It doesnt seem real
We were on another river chasing steelhead when we ran into a friend who immediately said...
"Boggans burned to the ground last night"
What the...
When our phones hit cell service the news was all across social media. About 11pm on Saturday night the fire started and the iconic respit of weary travelers, river runners and steelhead junkies went down in flames.
Gone.
It flat out made me sick and doesnt feel real. There for decades after decades, I myself had been going there for close to 18 years and began my steelhead journey right in that very spot. I caught my first fish just around the corner from there and celebrated with a gigantic milkshake that the cafe was known for.
Ugh.
There's been so many times that we've wearily walked into the cafe before sunrise with it bustling with activity, full of would be anglers amped up on coffee and breakfast from Farrel's grill, waiting to meet their guides for the day. Those morning pulsed with an energy like nowhere else
We've listened to ranchers talk about the cow business. It was the first and only place I saw a real, legit cowboy walk in with sheepskin chaps and real actual spurs connected to his boots
So many shuttles paid for and received from. Metric tons of steelhead and angling stories told.
We all felt Bill an Farrel's time was limited in the canyon as owners and operators of Boggans, but each year would turn and there they were continuing on the hard life of operating the oasis in the middle of nowhere. Bill recovered from his horrific stroke a few years back and his classic sharpness and whit was right where it needed to be. Farrel's smile was always looking back at you from the grill or the register.
Father time just kept marching on and the couple just kept opening their doors
It was like a given as the sun comes up.
That given, that sure thing is now gone.
It doesnt seem real, but it is.
Goodnight Boggans Oasis.
