The morning at High Ridge Station began like any other Monday. Mark was sitting at his wooden desk inside Watchtower 4, drinking coffee from a metal mug while going over the weekend trail reports. Outside, the early sunlight pushed through a thin haze and spread across the pine trees of the Blackwood Wilderness, making the forest look calm and ordinary.
At 8:15 AM, the radio on his console suddenly chimed. Central Dispatch came through with an alert about strange animal activity near High Meadow. Mark asked what kind of activity they meant, but the answer did not help much. The dispatcher sounded uneasy and said several hikers had reported the same thing. That was enough for Mark. He grabbed his daypack, clipped the radio to his belt, and started down the trail toward the meadow.
