I've camped in bear country for a number of years. Pretty much in the spring bears wake up hungry and cranky. Biggest problem are the sub-adults, these are last year's cubs - they denned up with mamma last fall, she gives birth to a new cub during the winter, and in the spring the teenager is kicked out of her territory and is on it's own. So a bit confused, no mamma to depend on for helping with meals, etc.

There are more problems during drought years, not enough food to go around.

Some bears have learned that coolers are lunch boxes, and will break into your vehicle if they see one - sight dependant, they didn't smell anything. I believe an Allstate commercial shows what a bear can do to a vehicle.

Some campgrounds will have bear proof food cache boxes. Or if you're backpacking, put your food in a mesh bag, attach a rope, throw over a high branch, and raise the mesh bag about 10 ft in the air. Caches should contain all things food smelly, including your toothpaste.

Then again, where I camped, I never did any of this, and never had a problem. We did have problems at the fish hatchery where I lived in the mountains of Arizona, with the sub-adults - tossing garbage cans, trying to break into houses, raiding the fish feeders. Generally didn't last more than a month. Except the one that tried to break into houses (more than one house, on more than one occasion), that one was shot. There are more problems with wildlife when humans move into their territory.

California Game & Fish may still have a brochure about camping in bear country.