Before my mate, John, hiked part of the West Coast Trail on Vancouver
Island, British Columbia last year I bought him a bear bell to attach to
his pack. Since he was doing the trail solo it was better than nothing.
Some hiking books and stores and a ranger think it's a good idea. It's
louder than a little jingle bell but not quite as huge as a cow bell.

Bears in the wilderness tend to go in a different direction when they
hear people coming. Lots of berry bushes along that path up there, so
if you warn the bears before you get between them and their food source
at least you have some chance of preventing an encounter. In fact, he
didn't see any bears on that hike (a rarety, they say) but he said there
was fresh evidence of one just ahead of him at one point (feathers
everywhere from a torn apart bird) and I think prints or scat.

There's my two cents on that topic.

Best regards,

Amanda Briles