On my own
I wasn't taking any chances. I was determined to escape the forced-march feeling. I had my backpack packed before Jim or anyone else was packed and around. I put some cheese and apricots in my pocket, and we all agreed to meet 2 miles down the trail at the first junction.
For the first hour or so I was alone and it was incredible. The trail wasn't as steep as it was the day before, and it was covered in what looked like pieces of soft red bark.
I went down to a little stream to fill up my water bottles for the day and almost immediately a deer came over and we looked at each other for a while.
A little bit later Darrell caught up. He said the best part of yesterday for him was sleeping.
Greg and Bonnie caught up a after that, and we all stopped to look at a big hole dug by a tree with what looked to be big paw prints around it. Then we looked at the holes pecked in the tree. A bit farther on, we peeled a tiny bit of bark off a ponderosa pine and breathed in the butterscotch fragrance.
Tree ponderers. Big time.