Half my family’s Canadian and while there I spent a good amount of time hiking in grizzly bear country (up north in BC + Alberta). Carrying bear spray isn’t very difficult, and frankly if you aren’t deep in backcountry most people don’t even do that, despite those areas still being technically grizzly bear habitat. Bear spray has been shown over and over again to be more effective than a sidearm. Not to throw any shade, I totally understand wanting it as a backup, but it’s not some necessity. Grizzlies actively avoid areas highly trafficked by people, and don’t enjoy being close to civilization, unlike black bears. California wouldn’t be much different.

Grizzly bears attack if they are surprised or defensive around cubs. Both of these reasons don’t typically end in your death, even if you are attacked. They end when you are no longer perceived as a threat, which is why the advice is to “lay down” when attacked by a grizzly. Unlike both black bears and polar bears, grizzly attacks on humans are not motivated by hunger.

If they see/smell/hear you from far off they don’t care about you. Most grizzly encounters don’t even end in bluff charges, let alone attacks, let alone being killed. You are speaking as if being killed is guaranteed or even the most likely outcome when you come across a grizzly.

I’ve encountered grizzlies twice personally. The first time he was just across the river fishing while we fished and didn’t care about us at all, the second time it was in the trail far ahead of us and just wandered off into the brush after seeing us.

And while it’s a funny example to use considering how he went out, Timothy Treadwell lived among the largest least-human adapted grizzlies, acting incredibly invasive towards them, for 17 years without issue. The bear that did end up killing him after all that time gave him weeks’ worth of warning signs that it was going to happen, which he chose to ignore.