Yeah, and don't accidentally pee on the bear rumaging around your friends tent.

Lets see, last tme I was in NORCAL bear country I almost walked into yet another marijuana operation with booby traps, got my EARTH FIRST! friends upset for explaining to a gypo logger I was not a pacifist and it was about to get western and this illegal alien from Scotland wanted to marry me. Like other posters have mentioned, don't let bears create tunnel vision so a mosquito, couger, pagan biker gang, scottish Hippie or UFO can sneek up behind you. At least nobody has suggested a Marlin .45-70 guide gun in this thread.I've been honoured to meet Doug Peacock, bear ambassador par excellance. I asked him his basic rule for safety. Doug replied " I avoid people, Bears are more predictable." I also met Timothy Treadwell, who didn't. And I am again boasting of meeting Bart the Bear. I miss Bart, hope to meet Peacock again and Treadwell's books have joined Y2K titles at the Goodwill. Just use common sense, which isn't. You coulddo waht my supervisor did In Kenai where I did volunteer census work on bears ( and how many cubs do you have in this cave mrs bart?) This really BIG ALPHA and disagreeable boar would come down once a week doing the John Wayne stagger and everybody, I mean every man, bear and skunk skedaddled for safety. My boss kept him in the binnoculars and took notes. After he left, we backtracked hm and scooped up several hot, steamy piles of his poop. For weeks we just tossed it around our camp and nobody came close.Oh, most important advise? have fun!

"...no deoderant in the car. If you bring it with you, toss it in the cannister or bear-bag at night..."

That goes for things like toothpaste, chapstick, etc, also...

"...a Marlin .45-70 guide gun..."

I thought that was a given

Another thing to worry about, squirrels and other camp robbers. If you leave a pack laying around at night, unzip or otherwise open all of the compartments, so the little buggers can take a look inside. If you don't, they will chew a hole to get in...

> For all I know we won't see a single bear

It's the married ones you gotta watch out for.

I'd be more worried about mountain lion attack than a bear attack. We camp in the Sierra Nevada's at or around Loon lake and we have heard many bears come through camps no problems yet. Mountain Lion attacks in the mountains are also a lot less likely than down in town where their food is limited. Just use common sense and don't sleep with your candy bar

"...For all I know we won't see a single bear..."

But, California being California, you may see a bare...

I ever bore anyone with my bear attack story? I was stationed In Kodiak AK and got a job cleaning the base PX complex at night. I had just laid down a coat of wax on the freshly cleaned floor and was buffing it out, walking slowly backwards. I bumped into this taxidermied brownie standing frozen in the entryway. Except in the half light of the midnight sun I just saw this Rocky and Bullwinkle shadow rocking back and forth and this huge paw in my peripheral vision. I screamed like a girl, tried running and woundup sliding like a good California skateboarder across the newly waxed deck and into the opposite wall. I crashed and knocked my own breath out. After I could breath again I saw my nemesis and felt my cheeks flush in embaressment. I even looked around to confirm nobody else was in the locked building with me at 2 A.M. I quit the next morning, the Ensign assigned charge of the complex bewildered when I said it was'to dangerous.'

Good thing my wife, the former swabby, wasn't ridding the buffer that night (she was assigned to do that from time to time), you cudda hurt her ears with all that screaming...

I've always said that with the right motivation and a bear behind me, I could take the gold in the olympics.