![]() She’d hiked through places that made her stomach turn-even though her normal senses found nothing wrong. She’d discovered secret meadows or caves that welcomed her presence. In her years of wanderings, she’d explored places that were sacred, where every step forward felt like a sacrilege. She didn’t think it was a cougar making her dog cling to her side, because she felt it, too. Elvis’s attitude had her paying attention to the branches of the trees she was walking under, but other than some porcupine sign, she hadn’t found any indication she and Elvis weren’t the only living things for miles. He didn’t look nervous, precisely, but the last time he’d done this it had been because a cougar had been stalking them. But for the last five miles he’d stuck to her side like glue. Generally, he would trot back and forth, investigating anything he found interesting, then checking in with her before exploring again. ![]() Elvis, her half German shepherd, half who-knows-what-except‑it‑was-big who trotted beside her, was experienced, too. She was an experienced hiker-her doctorate was in botany and her field study trips sent her to the edges of the world, looking for oddball plants that might contain the cure for Ebola or MRSA or some other disease. Common sense told her there must have been an easier way, but none of the trails on the USGS map seemed to go exactly where she needed to travel. Sissy Connors, PhD, checked her GPS, adjusted her backpack, and continued her trek into the mountains. ![]() P R E L U D E SUMMER: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ![]()
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