Oddbean new post about | logout
 I used to backpack in Desolation Wilderness around Lake Tahoe, let's estimate I spent 20 days there over my lifetime.  And I saw a bear just once, at a distance, and he wasn't interested in me.

OTOH in Yellowstone in the 1970s I saw black bears many times, just walking on the roadside or wherever.

It entirely depends on which 'woods' you are in.