>>>> bear scat was discovered that smelled like pepper and had little bells in it... <<<<
Ha ha, yes, there are many variants of that one.
“The dinner bells are for a serving of peppered hiker” etc.
A friend of mine went backpacking in Banff some years ago and came back with a whole bunch of bear attack humor like that.
I spent some time in Denali and would NEVER go backpacking there either, I just don’t understand the appeal. My black bear encounters in the northeast USA and the US Rockies have been quite enough of a thrill, thank you very much.
I went backpacking in Denali once. It was pretty nice. I had so many mosquitos on me that they practically carried me away and my pack felt light as a feather...