I live in the high-desert area of Central Oregon and I can assure you that they do “pack-up” and the one’s around here are about the size of a medium-sized German Shepherd.
I hear ‘em most every night and catch glimpses of them a couple of times a year during the day. The problem here w/solitary hikers/bikers/climbers is Mountain Lions, not coyotes.
I do agree that I would be much more concerned about cougars than coyotes, or even wolves for that matter.
See:
http://wildbunchrehab.org/encore_coyote.html
and
http://www.westmorelandconservancy.org/CCWolfCoyote.html
My feelings about wolves are conflicted. I actually like them, but I realize that they have a proper place and that proper place is not in densely populated areas or in areas where they pose a significant threat to livestock. Like all predators, they are highly intelligent, learn from experience, and allowing hunting of them, by those so inclined to do so, habituates them to the idea that humans are to be avoided and are not a potential food source.
Personally, I would only kill one in self defense, to protect my animals, or to protect another person. They are too much like dogs, which I really love.
Hating an animal that is just doing what it is designed to do is unfair and stupid. Rather hate the kind of fawning pandering politicians who oppose carrying firearms for self defense or oppose hunting, and the morons with a Disneyesque view of animals as large warm and cuddly stuffed animals that can talk.