Normally when I do the West Fork, I go in early before the crowds, but then have to deal with them coming out. Going in the afternoon this time, I was worried about crowds going in, but despite a rather full parking lot, I didn't have to experience an obscene amount of people. I got probably 4.5 miles in before I turned around, and didn't see a soul on the walk out. Correction, when I was walking by the fern field just before the bridge, I was two sets of eyes reflecting the light from my headlamp. Not sure what they were, but I'm guessing racoons? They looked too big to be squirrells, and their eyes weren't in the arrangement typical of a predatory animal. Got back to the parking lot at 8:15 and almost got locked in! Glad that didn't happen...