Jonas
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Then I heard him outside, slow, steady footsteps circling the shack, not rushing, just pacing, listening, waiting.
At one point, he leaned against the wall.
I saw the shadow of his boots through a gap between the boards.
He just stood there, and then nothing.
I didn't move for a long time.
It felt like hours, but it was probably twenty minutes.
When I finally called out the back, I didn't go near the trail.
I stuck to the trees and stayed low, cutting behind the ridge until I hit the edge of the neighbor's pasture.
My station was a prefab shed.
Metal walls, one tiny window, propane heater that only worked when it felt like it.
Inside, I had a chair, a clipboard, a CB radio, and not much else.
No Wi-Fi, barely a signal on my phone unless I hiked uphill with both arms out like I was praying to the sky.
The point of the job was basic.
I logged anyone who came through the area.
Hikers, rangers, maintenance crews.
If they showed up, they signed in.
If they left, they signed out.
I kept a paper look, radioed in anything unusual, and that was about it.
By mid-November, traffic dropped off almost completely.
The weather turned, the casual hikers stopped coming, and the hunters stuck to more interior routes.