So a Black Bear is BLACK and a GRIZZLY bear is, well, grizzly, right?

This is an important question!  Of all the things that have troubled me most about this planned trip to the US are the BEARS.

This little scaredy-cat Brit has never shared the outdoors with bears before and the thought of lying in my tent at night listening out for every snort, snap and pant and wondering if this is the night I have ea close encounter with Ursus arctos horribilis has exercised me greatly.

So....I've done a bit of homework and concluded that.....

• Black bears aren't always black
• Grizzly bears aren't always bigger than black bears (and how do you compare them anyway unless the two species are are in front of you together)
• Bears like soap and sunscrean.  Yep, I know that they don't plaster it over their bodies....but apparently the smell of these left in your tent is enough to bring them out of the woods to check you out
• If a black bear attacks you, fight back with rocks, sticks, equipment, or your bare hands BUT.....
• .....if a grizzly attacks you then all you can really do is curl up in a ball and pray
• Bears are most active at dusk and dawn....just when I'll be pootling around the forest making my morning museli.
• Oregan state along is home to about 25,000 to 30,000 black bears

So...."just get a bear spray" I hear you say. Problem solved.  Listen to what the US National Park Service advice is about this... "Bear repellents even when effective, only work at such close range that depending on them could endanger you".  Hmmm.  Not really a strong endorsement of the efficacy of a bear spray is it?

I'm not sure all this head knowledge has really settled my fear much. :(