Fish, I think the issue is that things are different now. In talks I give on backpacking, I often hear stories such as yours, but they typically are "back then" types of stories.
Bears are SMART animals, and we humans have trained them well. There are some places where it becomes the evening entertainment: Watching stubborn humans hanging their food (poorly, generally), and watching the bears retrieve the food. George mentioned some good watching areas, and I'd add the head of Lyell Canyon to that, with the big dead tree that every one uses.
I remember the last time I was there, hiking with folks that were hangers. They hung their food, then retreated to their tent, farther away than mine. The bears came several hours later, and I was out like a light. The guy had an air-horn I didn't know about, to scare the bears away (which they ignored), and he ran up even with my tent, and blasted away. BLAST! I thought that I was on the Titanic, hitting the iceberg! BLAST!!! BLAST!! BLAST!! What the hell was that????!?!?!
