Booger Nose Flat

It’s what remained of an old water storage tank that sat back in the woods some three to four hundred feet up the hill above Sander’s Court in Klamath. And it was the site of a number of childhood memories, including the time I tried and failed to kiss Goldie Arnold.

One afternoon, Goldie’s older brother,  John Paul, Chucky Yates, my brother Adam and I were playing up there. The game was simple: run up the outside rim of the wall that we called the cliff, and slide down the fallen redwood log on the other side.

Around and around we ran and slid. It was truly a simpler time back then.

During a lull in the game, I asked John Paul the name of the place. He quickly glanced at Chucky, then with a smile declared, “Booger Nose Flat.”

We returned to playing our game.

It would be some years later that I’d learn what the flat was actually used for at one time. I also learned at about the same time that John Paul had made the name up, right off the top of his head.

But by then, it didn’t matter – because it was and will always be ‘Booger Nose Flat’ to me.