The few times that I saw big, wild animals I was not deep in the mountains. I saw a mountain lion at Millard campground one night. I Iike Millard cuz my family always went there when i was a kid. I was sleeping on the table closest to the pkg lot and heard something large crossing the trail from the stream to the slope. I could tell from the noise it was large. So I shined my flashlight in that direction and saw the back half of a lion disappearing into the bush. I saw it clearly. the color, the tail and it was not scary large so I decided it was safe to go back to sleep. The cabin nearby had cats outside. I figure the mountain Lion was gonna eat one of the cats. I dunno.
Another time I saw a bear at Hoegees's campground. Actually, i saw a bear there twice in one year. Maybe the same bear..? I dunno. The first time the bear grabbed my nalgene bottle from the table in the middle of the night. I usually stack my clean dishes so I CAN hear if a critter gets them. Sure enough! So i climbed out of my tent and scolded the bear as if he was a dog. He must've got my point cuz he did drop my water bottle a few yards from my tent. The other time at camp Hoegee's I was laying down on a table at the farthest site towards winter creek, just absent mindedly staring at the sky. Well, I heard something to my left and just turned my head and neck to see what it was. 30 ft away a large bear was just casually walking from the slope towards the riverbed. As I turned my head he must've discovered the big lazy guy on the table. Me! So he turned his head towards me and calmy continued towards the creek bed. Well, I guess that wild animals closer to the city are less afraid of people. So they are intentionally less stealthy. If someone asked me where to go to see a bear, I would definitely recommend a place like Hoegee's. I also saw a Bobcat in the river bed, at Hoegee's.