Or for that matter, why Treen was named Treen. Or why Tokul was named Tokul. Are we just lazy? Yeah, kind of. If we were really lazy, though, we would have named Tinkham, "Tokul Treen Tinkham" because that's usually what I yell when trying to get her attention.

Start back in the day with Tokul. Tokul Creek is the last tributary to the Snoqualmie River before Snoqualmie Falls. Cool, right? Only later did we realize we'd named our light yellow lab a name that means, "very dark in color." Hmph.

When Treen came along, she needed a name, too. Actually, she had a name (Josey), but that neither started with a "T" nor reflected the PNW. So we chose Treen after the peak, the waterfall, and the creek. Oh yeah, the word "treen" refers to a small handmade household item made of wood. Hmph.

So now there's Tinkham. After having two dogs with "T" names we obviously had to continue the tradition. I was looking at lists of placenames, searching for something that would work. Driving along I-90, we passed Tinkham Road. Pfft. I'm not naming her after a road. "What about the peak? The creek? The tarns?" Oh, right. I like it. And we can call her, "Tink," too. (Thanks, Scott.)

So that's why she's named Tinkham.

And on this trip we climbed up and over Tinkham Peak, toured below it on the PCT, and celebrated her namesake. It was good. We even saw Abiel Peak. The connection? Abiel Tinkham was an officer in the US Army that explored in the Cascades in the 1850s. It's probably the best accidental namesake of them all.

What will we name the next moosefish dog? Hard to say except it will start with a "T" and likely be named after a body of water. Hopefully, we'll have a long time to figure it out.