Bear spray inaccessible in the pack...

That's almost worse than not having any, because the spray was probably bought as a talisman, like a magic "anti-bear" charm which only needs to be possessed to work as opposed to being treated as a weapon. Which means the person didn't do any real risk assessment at all.

It's a weapon, treat it with respect and be realistic about the actual circumstances in which you might have to use it (you won't have forever to dig it out, if you can, why not just leave?) or don't bother taking it along as a security blanket.

Use your brain and take having to use it seriously and put some planning and thought into that possibility: "I'll keep this here, so if this reasonably foreseeable event (which I took a few minutes to research) occurs I can do this, or that, or the other."