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MOUNT BAKER STATE PARK:
Jamie Parker is glad the day is ending. Her routine includes stopping at each campground in the morning, and again on the way back to the ranger station before going home. At each campground, she is confronted by people wanting answers and she’s getting tired of repeating herself.
She drives into Marmot Campground, where she met the woman with the two children. Out of curiosity, she wonders if the woman is with a partner. She thinks the woman would not be so scared if there was a companion in her camp, and she decides to make sure she’s okay.
She parks in front of the woman’s campsite next to an old green pickup and climbs out, but there is no one at the table or in the blue nylon tent. She hears splashing water and the laughing of high-pitched voices, but there are no ponds or streams near the campground. She follows the sound a short distance into the woods and sees the woman sitting next to a ten-foot oval-shaped pool of water, and her young boy and girl standing in the shallow pond.
“It sounds like everyone is having fun,” Jamie says to get their attention.
The woman gets up and smiles. “I know. I didn’t notice the pond when we arrived.”
Jamie follows the stream with her eyes until she finds the source. The water is coming from a small gap below the base of a large boulder.
The woman looks at her children. “Time to get out, kids. We need to fix dinner.” The kids jump out and she turns and smiles at the ranger. “The brochure didn’t say anything about a hot spring.”
Jamie gives her a half smile and a nod. “Enjoy your evening, ma’am.”
Jamie walks over to the boulder, kneels to feel the water rippling out from the base, and frowns when it feels very warm. This is not good.
She stands, goes back to the SUV, and takes a slow drive through the rest of the campsites, but does not see any other water. She drives out of the campground and returns to the ranger station near the entrance to the park.
The building is deserted, and she looks at her watch. Her supervisor, Larry Cobb, and the longtime Park Assistant Ranger, Frank Olson, have gone home for the night, so she’ll tell them about the water in the morning.
She locks the SUV, climbs into a brand new black Mustang, and drives home to her father’s house in Sparrow Valley.
She cannot stop thinking about the new hot spring. She’s not a geologist, but thinks it’s a bad sign that one day there is seismic activity, and the next day a hot spring suddenly appears in the park. Something is happening since the earthquake, and she decides to tell her friend Wesley about the hot spring when she gets home.