Carla woke up to the sun, just peaking over the Eastern range. Greg was still snoring, of course, so she got dressed, and got the fire going again, so they could be warm for breakfast. Looking over at Jessica's tent, she noticed the flap was open, and Jess was gone. "Probably peeing," she thought, "best to do that myself, before Greg wakes up." The campsite they'd reserved had an outhouse nearby, so people using the site wouldn't be constantly digging latrines. Carla headed down the trail, to the crossroads and turned down the trail which lead down the mountain, and eventually back to civilization. The outhouse was less than a 5 minute walk down the slight hill, but when she got there, it wasn't occupied, and Jessica was nowhere to be seen.
"This is so weird," Carla whispered, "where else would she go, first thing in the morning?" Carla used the toilet, thankful that the park rangers kept it stocked with toilet paper, even if it was the cheap, rough paper that you only found in public restrooms. Walking back up the path, she kept her eyes peeled, expecting to see Jess stretching her legs on one of the trails. Reaching the crossroads, she looked up and down the paths as far as she could see from that point, but still no Jess.
"Hey, Carla," Greg shouted from the fire pit, "Do you want bacon or sausage today?"
"Bacon," she shouted back as she made her way back to their camp, "Is Jess there with you?"
"No, I thought she was with you," he replied. Carla walked back up to the fire, sitting down on the log next to Greg. "No, I haven't seen her this morning, she was gone when I woke up," Carla said, starting to sound worried, "I hope she's ok."
"She probably just went for a hike to be alone for a little while," Greg suggested. "She'll be back for breakfast, I'm sure… maybe she's just giving us some extra time alone for… you know…" he said, winking at Carla.
"No, I think she's getting annoyed that we're always screwing," Carla said, "If she's not back by the time we've finished eating, we need to go look for her."
Hoping to change Carla's mind for some morning nookie, Greg ate as slowly as possible, but Jessica still wasn't back when he finally finished, a half an hour later, with Carla increasingly impatient. "Alright, you're done, let's go, right now!" she huffed, "We can clean up after we've found her."
Pulling him along by the wrist, Carla led him back to the crossroads. "Do you recognize her boot-tread pattern on any of the trails?" Carla asked.
"Not particularly," Greg responded, "But her feet are about the same size as yours, right?"
"Yes, but she's a half-size bigger."
"Ok, well this trail going up only has one set of foot-prints, so step next to one of them so we can compare," Greg instructed. Carla did as he asked, and looking closely at the other print, her eyes brightened, "Either those are hers, or another person with her boot size is hiking alone up here," she said excitedly.
"Well, let's head up the trail, maybe we'll catch up to whoever it is."