My experience is that if you can get a mile from asphalt or concrete then all of this melts away. I’ve been on a beach with no other person, horizon to horizon (2mi hike to the beach). I once walked a trail in possibly the most crowded part of the most crowded park (Cades Cove) and the only encounter my group had was with a copperhead snake.

Yea, but anything you can drive up to is going to be a disaster.