I've done a lot of hiking up here in Alaska, esp on the Kenai Peninsula and a lot of hunting as well on rain soaked Prince William and SE AK islands. I've hike almost every trail on the Kenai Peninsula and have NEVER ran into a bear (Thank You God)but know folks who have and if they're not aggressive or real hungry, you'll never know they were there or just leave you alone. My friends were never charged. Most hunters tho carry heavy duty calibered firearms everywhere when they're hunting even small Sitka Black-tailed deer, just in case. A deer down overheard shot is a bear dinner bell, esp on Kodiak Island. A 338 Win Mag or 375 H&H is common for hunters up here. A lot of the REI crowd/hikers up here don't believe in nor carry firearms, but most of them aren't too pro-gun anyway but do carry the bear/pepper spray. Some of the more dumber ones don't carry any protection and would have the nerve to look surprised if they were mauled or killed. I have no problems with bear spray. Me? I always carried a S&W 44 Mag. I got smarter and now carry a 454 Casull which with a good hard cast hot load will go completely thru a big grizzly at any angle. They have their way and I have mine. I like the Boy Scouts motto, "always be prepared". For just black bears tho, some good bear spray should suffice. I was always told a grizz will normally just maul you but an aggressive black bear will kill you then eat you. Of course, we just had a hiker mauled and eaten up here by a grizzly in Denali Park for the first time, so go figure. If I were worried about black bears where the populations aren't as high as they are up here, I'd just go with the bear spray mainly to save weight. We have had instances up here where bear spray just pissed grizzlies off more but for the most part, it works, esp on black bears. If I were worried and really concerned about it, I'd learn how to use and carry a firearm, the least caliber I'd go with is a 357 Mag. 357's are pretty devastating on a black bear. You can kill a black bear with any deer caliber including the little 243 Winchester, which is a 6mm bullet. 44 Mag is better but a 357 will definitely put the hurt on a bb. Most of the time if something hurts, any normal animal will try and get away, of course if their adrenaline is pumping...your call there.