A bear wanting to hide would do so.

Following her thoughts into the woods, she realized for the first time what an arduous task it was going to be fighting through the underbrush off-trail to service and reset the traps. Selfishly, she was glad they were covering the high country. Some of it would be above tree line. A good chunk was encompassed by the burn left from the 1998 fire. The going was bound to be somewhat easier.

Lost in thought, she rounded a bend in the trail and nearly walked on the heels of Rory Van Slyke. Next to "never hike alone" on the rangers' list of safe behavior in bear country was "stay alert." So far Anna was oh-for-two.

"Here's one," Joan was saying when Anna bumbled into the meeting. "This is one of the hair trees we've marked. This yellow diamond is what you'll be looking for." She pointed to a piece of reflective plastic that had been nailed to the tree about as high as the average person could reach with a hammer.

"We also number them to be sure we know exactly which samples came from which tree. The numbers are behind the trunk at the bottom. We want to notice these trees but we don't want to advertise them to every hiker down the pike."

"What's the barbed wire for?" Rory asked at the same time Anna noticed segments had been stapled to the bark in an uneven, widespread pattern.

"That scratches them a little deeper is all. Pulls out some of the under-fur that's more likely to have a little bit of tissue clinging to it so that we can more easily get a DNA sample."

"Doesn't that make them mad?" Rory's concern at an enraged grizzly in the neighborhood was clear on his face.