Mason
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
That evening we found a sign that should have made us feel safe.
A wooden placard nailed to a post.
Backcountry Ranger Station, 4.2 miles.
It looked official.
Clean lettering.
Correct font.
The arrow painted neatly.
It was the first normal sign we'd seen in two days.
Mason stared at it like it might be a hallucination.
A ranger station, he said, and hope broke through his voice like something that hurt.
If we can get there, we followed the arrow.
The trail narrowed, then widened again, then dropped into a darker drainage.
The undergrowth was thick.
The light vanished earlier.
We kept walking toward that idea of safety.
Four miles isn't far.
Four miles is a couple hours.
We could be sitting under a roof.
We could be talking to someone with a badge and a radio.
Two miles in, we found the building.