At the limits of tree growth, one cold March day, I came upon the tracks of a grizzly bear descending the mountain. I back-tracked them and found the den in which the grizzly had spent the winter. The inside of the den was gravelly and comparatively clean. Only this single line of tracks led from the den, though the weather had been clear for a week; so I judged this was the first time the grizzly had sauntered forth. It was just sundown when I reached the den. The heights were icy, and I hesitated about continuing across the Divide that night, so concluded to occupy the den. I knew that bears often take a short ramble in the spring and then return to the den, but I took the chances of sharing it with him. I do not know what the grizzly did that night--whether or not he came back. But my fire in the mouth of the den may have kept him at bay. The hard, cracked skin on the soles of the grizzly's feet is shed during hibernation, and the feet in spring are soft and tender. For several days he avoids traveling over rough places. His claws grow out during the winter rest, also. When he goes to sleep they are worn, broken, and blunt; but he comes out of winter quarters with claws long and moderately pointed. What is the grizzly's condition in the spring after months of fasting? He has hibernated from three to five months, and in this time probably has taken neither water nor food. First of all he comes forth fat and not in the least hungry. The walls of his stomach have greatly contracted, almost completely closing the interior. Two stomachs which I saw taken from grizzlies killed early in the spring were as hard as chunks of rubber, and had capacity for not more than two or three spoonfuls. But when the grizzly reappears after his long winter sleep he is as strong as ever and can run for hours or fight with normal effectiveness. He may not eat anything for a few days after leaving the den. For many days he eats lightly, and it may be two weeks before he has a normal appetite. His first food is likely to be the early, tender shoots of plants or trees, tuberous roots, swelling buds, and green grass. I once watched a grizzly for seven days after he emerged from his hibernating-cave. His winter quarters were near timber-line on Battle Mountain, at an altitude of nearly twelve thousand feet. The winter had been of average temperature, but with scanty snow-fall. I saw him, by chance, just as he left the den, on the first day of March. He walked about aimlessly for an hour or more, then returned to his sleeping-place without eating or drinking anything.