Man, this is going to come off as snarky, but that is the outdoor experience. Put your food up, if not for the bears you're more than likely not going to see, then for the raccoons you most likely will. Bear spray? Not unless I'm somewhere that might have grizzlies, and even then the stuff is a last resort when all other precautions have failed (read the label about the usage range: close enough that you're about to be mauled). I've never looked up reports of bear activity; I assume they're always out there.
"Might encounter a predator", but overwhelming odds are you wont. Fifteen years of tromping around the woods of WA, trail running and hiking, I've seen one brown bear that wanted nothing to do with me. I'm sure I have more to worry about from my fellow drivers on the way to the trailhead than I do from bears and wolves.
We all have our personal worries, and one should pack accordingly. Non-human predators are low in my list of things I pack for. YMMV.
Man, this is going to come off as snarky, but that is the outdoor experience. Put your food up, if not for the bears you're more than likely not going to see, then for the raccoons you most likely will. Bear spray? Not unless I'm somewhere that might have grizzlies, and even then the stuff is a last resort when all other precautions have failed (read the label about the usage range: close enough that you're about to be mauled). I've never looked up reports of bear activity; I assume they're always out there.
"Might encounter a predator", but overwhelming odds are you wont. Fifteen years of tromping around the woods of WA, trail running and hiking, I've seen one brown bear that wanted nothing to do with me. I'm sure I have more to worry about from my fellow drivers on the way to the trailhead than I do from bears and wolves.
We all have our personal worries, and one should pack accordingly. Non-human predators are low in my list of things I pack for. YMMV.