have you ever encountered any bears or mountain lions?
I wanna go out west to hike but thats the one thing stopping me
No. But to be fair, when I've gone hiking in Colorado it was basically tourist season and while you're really out there. People jog by you, walk by you in the opposite direction, might have the boy Scouts or girl Scouts out there on a trip. It's quiet and peaceful and you get to walk it or run it or bike it or ride a horse through it, you're never truly alone.
But that was my experience. Theres been plenty of hikes elsewhere where I've been truly alone but it's like a forest area in the plains so I could see myself out. Entire dynamic changes if you sprain your ankle or get a snakebite or spider bite or something. A quarter mile will feel like 50 miles.