Free The Last Season by Eric Blehm Page B

them in “small patches or tufts between the boulders,” without fear of being plucked or smashed by a hiker or eaten by a mule. There were no blackened fire pits or piles of rusting cans, though there was a flat spot above the meadow that had been someone’s barely perceptible sleeping spot. The haven he’d been drawn to was, according to Randy, “rich country,” symbolizing not only the past but also what he hoped would be the future for these mountains.
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    AS RANDY RELAXED into the daily regimen of life as a backcountry ranger, Dana and Esther Morgenson were increasingly anxious back in Yosemite. They weren’t concerned for his safety in the mountains—they were confident he could handle anything the Sierra might throw at him.
    They were, however, worried about the rumblings of a draft. On July 9, 1965, just three days before Randy was airlifted into the backcountry, President Johnson acknowledged in a news conference that his administration was considering a call-up of reservists and expanding current military draft quotas. Randy was of age, and Dana and Esther knew that no amount of wilderness could shield him from the Selective Service and Vietnam. The Morgenson family had seen what military service in a war zone had done to Larry’s spirit. Larry, whom Randy had once looked up to as an artistic and talented storyteller, a tireless skier, an older brother with worldly aspirations, had atrophied after the Korean War into living his life within the constraints of a bottle. The drink helped curb what would later be called post-traumatic stress. Regardless of the reasons behind Larry’s uninspired life, family and friends marked the beginning of the decline with his military service. Even knowing this, Randy had told his parents that he wouldserve his country if he was drafted. He “wouldn’t like it,” he said, but if he was called, he would go.
    Toward the end of the season, Dana and Bill Taylor—Randy’s childhood friend—hiked into the backcountry for a visit and were surprised to see how much weight he had lost. It was impossible for a foot ranger not to lose weight; he simply could not consume enough calories at altitude, especially with a canned-food diet. They brought with them homemade cookies from Esther, which Randy rationed sparingly after meals.
    Seeking his father’s expertise, Randy told him of the flowers that had appeared like diamonds after the rain. Dana instantly recognized the description as bilberry, but he and Randy hiked to the spot to confirm. The conversation, as it often did, segued into school.
    Bill Taylor thought that with the threat of a draft, Randy was crazy even to consider not going back to school. Full-time students were eligible for deferment, a no-brainer to Bill. Dana expressed his concerns as well.
    If Randy went back to school in the fall and spring, he could come back to the high country the following summer. That wouldn’t be an option if he were to be drafted. He agreed to think about it.
    Back in Yosemite, Dana confided his concerns to Randy’s friend Nancy Williams, a young woman who worked with Dana in the Curry Company’s accounting department. Dana expressed to her his disappointment in Randy for not continuing his education and his worry that he was exposing himself to the draft. But Nancy understood that “Randy was answering a higher calling.” She describes it as an irresistible pull, like Jack London’s “call of the wild.” “I think Randy had a distinct purpose in life,” Williams says, “and back then, he wasn’t exactly sure what that purpose was. He just followed his heart, which wasn’t in the classroom. The mountains were his classroom.”
    Such idealistic reasoning provided Dana and Esther little respite from their worries. War, they knew, was not their son’s calling—he wasn’t programmed for it. Before he’d left for the