Have you guys played around with "google earth" yet? I spent a good 18 hours (honest) exploring last weekend and came up with a couple "local" (within 500 km) areas that I hadn't known about yet...
Trip #1: no bears (ok a few, but none worth worrying about) Lake way up in space with a sheer drop on the outlet side... It will be
work to get up there but the experience should be worth it... photos promised - I hope to go in the next few weekends...
Trip#2 Back to my old stomping grounds on Vancouver Island... Look at that valley! Nice watershed, bushwackable river edges, steep mountains (moontans! as per DtB) on either side... woooo!. My only problem is that any bear within 100 km will be using the same route. If/when I go (crossed fingers) I'll post a trip report. At least coastal BC you are only dealing with friendly black bears - last year I spent a week on a (similar route-wise) alpine pass in northern Alberta and found the experience *distictly* uncomfortable at times... *grizzlies*....
Matthias