“Any chance you guys are going north from here?” I asked as many people around the Lassen National Park Visitor’s Center as I could. The only people who seemed to be going the right way didn’t have room to give me a ride, so I made my way back to the road itself to stick out my thumb for a little while longer on my quest to get up to Mt. Shasta.

“You’re welcome to camp with us tonight, and we’ve got food and beer to share,” Chris told me from the window of his Subaru Station wagon. “We’re going to coast down to Chester tomorrow, but tonight we’re camping up here at site 19. You’re welcome to join us if it gets too late and you don’t get a ride, just look for the bright green tent.” Chris and Nikki had been among the many who couldn’t give me a ride because they were going the wrong way. In their case they were in fact so low on gas that trying to drive me farther north would have just stranded us all.

I thanked Chris for his offer and told myself I’d stay out there by the road for another hour and then head over to site 19 if I hadn’t found anything by then. Twenty minutes later I came to the conclusion that there was no chance of getting north and out of the park that night, and if I was going to camp in Lassen anyways I might as well stay with some cool peeps in an actual campsite where I could drink beer and eat hot food and have access to flush toilets (still a huge luxury even though I haven’t had to dig a cat-hole in 2 weeks now).

I felt so lucky to have met these cool new friends, and though the gas concerns seemed to indicate bad luck on their part, they’d already brought good luck to others that same day and been called the Luck Dragons. After eating enough of their food and drinking their beer, I officially bestowed upon them the title of trail angels and gave these luck dragons their own trail names – Nikki is now Falcor the Dragon (named after the Luck dragon from Neverending Story) and Chris is Luckle – taken from the saying “Luck’ll do.”

Back when Falcor was Nikki she studied Environmental Science in San Diego, while Luckle (known then as Chris) repaired air conditioners. Now that she has her Bachelors Degree they’re spending some time road tripping through National Parks as they decide next steps in life, and I’m so glad they happened to be in Lassen National Park yesterday.

Later yesterday evening we were all invited over to the Wilcox’s campsite, where there was a campfire and even more beer (super delicious beer that I’ll have to find again). This morning Todd and Terri Wilcox, who were driving farther north in the park anyways, took me as far as Manzanita Lake, giving me the grand tour of Lassen National Park along the way. The sprained ankle is a bump in the road, but the world is full of Trail Angels and new friends, and I’m so incredibly grateful to all who have helped make this trip possible for me.