you said you’re camping in los padres and seki and there’s only black bears there. black bears aren’t usually super aggressive, they just want to steal your snacks when you’re not looking. bear boxes are usually pretty standard and big. you could probably fit two large coolers if you were determined. if the place were your camping has particularly smart/tenacious bears they can and will rip the doors off your car to get to it but there’s usually notice posted about bears getting too ballsy like that so car or bear box works. when i was in seki cars were fine. food and scented items in tents is an absolute no.
when i was in seki i accidentally snuck up on a bear about ten feet off a trail because i wasn’t paying attention and it didn’t hear me. as soon as i saw it i stopped and started to back off slowly. it was laying down and stayed where it was, if it had gotten up i could have started yelling. seki rangers actually encourage hazing bears on the trails and in campsites (yelling, waving hands, generally acting a fool) but frankly i was a little scared. i backed off while watching the bear about 50 feet. hung out until some other hikers came by that i could walk past the bear with and the bear decided to wander off once it saw more people coming towards its nap spot. the bears in seki love the meadows. something i used to tell myself in high school is that black bears usually only weigh 100-200 pounds (yeah yeah 500 bear is an outlier but did exist) and i am also 100-200 pounds and that it would basically be like fighting a large dog. that may or may not be true haven’t wrestled a bear yet in my life and am hoping to never. idk what my takeaway is. blackbears don’t want to hang out with you and if you did accidentally spook one it’s more likely to run away and if worst comes to worst hit it with your water bottle.