I used to do a lot of work in homes in Steamboat, saw bears all the time. One was hanging out in the hot tub at one house I was working at, others in yards, garages. Saw a bear raiding a dumpster downtown at around midnight in January, that was a surprising one.
Also used to experience the same things while working in Aspen.. Leave a bar at midnight and run in to a bear on the sidewalk outside the bar.
The reality is that these mtn towns are full of outsiders that just don't get it.

