Bruce, Chris and I went hiking today. We walked through the old train tunnel on Snoqualmie Pass. The tunnel is 2.7 miles long and has no lights. We only had one small flashlight, so we walked most of the way in the dark.

In that kind of darkness, your eyes play tricks on you. The end of the tunnel was so far that it kept looking like it was a small light maybe 30 feet away. The slighest bit of light, reflection off a water drop or a wet rock, gave you the feeling that something was there waiting for you.

Chris is a bit claustrophibic and almost had an anxiety attack. We got him to talk about things-- his school, where he grew up, stuff like that. I felt the creaps too. It was a bit unsettling to know that if someting went wrong and we had to get out, we'd have to run over a mile in the dark before we'd reach the exit.

We made a rule-- no scary stories or talk of horror movies.

Bruce didn't tell us that we would have to go through the tunnel twice. He figured if he did, Chris wouldn't go. But, on the other side there is no above ground trail back. We rested a few minutes, watched a hawk, talked to some cyclists and then walked back.

Chris said he felt much better the second time through.