Something Has Changed With Bears This Year. Most Hikers Don't Know It

Bear encounters across North America have been climbing for five consecutive years — and the data suggests this is not slowing down. Colorado State Parks documented nearly 5300 bear encounters in 2025 alone. Grizzly bear attacks in Canada from 2020 to 2025 have already outpaced the total from any previous full decade on record. But the bigger problem isn't the bears. A bear safety educator, speaking to Global News, put it plainly: "These interactions will continue to increase because we humans are not doing our jobs to be safe in their environment." That sentence is what this video is about. What does the documented data actually show? Why are encounters increasing? And why is the mental model most of us use to read bear behaviour in the field starting to break down — especially around habituated animals? In this video: — What the documented numbers from across North America actually show — Three forces driving increased encounters: population recovery, habituation, and trail overlap — Why habituation doesn't just happen to bears — and our direct role in it — The misinformation problem and why comment sections are a genuinely dangerous place to learn bear safety — A simple three-question field check for any bear encounter 🔗 Related videos: — Hyperphagia — what it means for your fall trips:    • Hyperphagia Hype? Is It Safe to Hike When ...   — Bear spray — full breakdown:    • Bear Spray: Do You Actually Need It? 10 Ye...   — Reading bear behaviour:    • Most Hikers Freeze in a Bear Encounter. He...   — Where to set up camp in bear country:    • The Bear Country Camping Mistake That Most...   📚 Sources: — International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) — Global News — Bear Safety Coverage 2025 — Origins Foundation — Grizzly Bear Attacks in Canada Report — Stephen Herrero — Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance ⛺ SUPPORT THE EXPEDITIONS Join the Patreon community →   / howesthehike   Buy Me A Coffee → https://buymeacoffee.com/howesthehike 🛍️ MERCH — Howe's The Hike? https://howesthehike.ca/shopping 🔗 AFFILIATE LINKS These cost you nothing extra and help keep the expeditions going. 🇨🇦 MEC (Canada): https://alnk.to/btnkVxS 🇺🇸 REI (USA): https://rei.pxf.io/DyB6qq 0:00 The encounter that changed my trip 1:33 Something real is happening this summer 3:59 Anchoring the actual risk 5:36 Why fall is different — hyperphagia 6:19 Three forces driving more encounters 8:49 Where we made it worse 12:43 The mental model that isn't holding up 15:00 Three questions for any encounter 17:38 What actually needs to change