It took a little over two hours of four-wheel driving, over and through mountains, into National Forest and, eventually, wilderness area, to make it 12 linear miles and find the tank trap that marked the beginning of our on-foot leg. It was a long walk in, loaded down with the gear necessary to assess the brook trout population of a small headwater stream—backpack electrochockers, buckets, nets, clipboards, scales, measuring boards. My gaze scanned the fringes of the trail fo