All Upon The Watchtower

Fire Lookout Towers were built in the beginning of the 20th century on high peaks and trees, with the sole purpose of using human eyes to determine when and where a fire was developing. These towers were often in the middle of mountains and forests, far into wilderness areas. The Forest Service would pay seasonal employees over the summer to hike to lookout towers, where they would remain in solitude, their only contact a two-way radio to the ranger station. Watchtowers were most prevalent throughout the 1930's through 1950's, after which they began declining due to increasing technology until the 1990's, at which point lookout towers fell into disuse. Today, few remain, and those that due are often hiking trails.

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After leaving his job in the American and British armies as a computer scientist, George Davidson had few prospects in life. Searching for a place to stay and escape his life back in Britain, he finds a job offering through the US Forest Service to be a fire lookout. The job included hiking through the Cascades, one of the harshest mountain ranges in the world, and spending the entire summer isolated in a small hut on a mountaintop. He immediately applied, and upon receiving a letter he'd be going to Desolation Peak, used his remaining savings from the army to buy a plane ticket to Seattle, Washington and headed into the woods.

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Based on the writings and experiences of Jack Kerouac and the life story of Alan Turing, an AU where George is a computer science for the army in 1954, who seeks to escape society to the mountains.

A dreamnotfound short fic, discussing period-specific homophobia and the mountains.