>>151791In my experience of having seen bears in the woods many times, as long as you're not in a national park where hunting them is illegal, bears really are more scared of you than you are of them. Most will avoid you before you can even get close enough to see them. The most you'll probably see - if you even see one - is their rear end as they're running away from you. If they don't run away immediately and instead come to investigate you, than just clap your hands at them, or make some loud, commanding noise, and they'll more than likely turn tail and run. As a last resort, you should have a can of bear spray.
In a national park, most bears are badly-behaved. They want your food, and they know how to get it. Moreover, they don't view humans as a threat (as bears in most other parts of the woods do, due to hunting). National park bears probably won't attack you directly, but they do know how to scare a tourist, and get them to drop their pack and run away. Stand your ground and be ready to deploy your bear spray if necessary.
Don't:
-run away, or otherwise act like a prey animal
-make any screams of terror
-behave erratically
-approach them
-feed them
-drop your pack and run away
-make eye contact (I've only read this one, not sure if it's true)
Do:
-maintain a steady tone of voice ("hey bear, hey bear")
-back away very slowly to diffuse the situation
-stand your ground if they bluff charge (probably won't happen, though, so don't get freaked out)
-be prepared to fight back if they attack you (very unlikely)
-understand the difference between curiosity and aggression (Google "bear body language")
-deploy your bear spray if you feel it to be necessary
-bring a large-bore revolver if it makes you feel better
-hang all food and smellables 50+ yards downwind of your campsite (at least out of direct line-of-sight)
-do all cooking downwind of your campsite, but not right next to your food bag
All that said, seeing a bear is very rare.
