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View Full Version : Best locations and times for bear sightings on the AT



LittleRock
04-12-2018, 09:44
Depending on your point of view, you might call me lucky or unlucky, but I've now section hiked the southern 1/3 of the AT and have yet to see a bear. For a long time I was fine with it, but lately I've been thinking it would be a bummer to hike the whole trail and not see a single bear.

So for those of you who know the trail well, where and when in your experience are you most likely to see black bears along the AT?

TNhiker
04-12-2018, 09:45
In the smokies---near a shelter.....

most shelters have a "resident" bear that hangs out knowing there is food available...

MuddyWaters
04-12-2018, 09:52
Shenandoah

My fav encounter was in ga.

Young bear came down tree about 8-10 ft from me, and we stared at each other a couple seconds, before it dropped to ground and ran away

tiptoe
04-12-2018, 09:55
Early in the day, on misty mornings. Also. it helps to hike alone, without headphones. Proceed quietly, and pay attention to your surroundings. My bear sightings have been in the Smokies, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- six in all, including two cubs. Not a huge number for someone who has almost finished the AT. I consider myself lucky to have seen them. All behaved appropriately, and so did I.

illabelle
04-12-2018, 09:58
In the smokies---near a shelter.....

most shelters have a "resident" bear that hangs out knowing there is food available...

Cosby Shelter is a good one. Very persistent bear when we went through there a few years back.

Odd Man Out
04-12-2018, 10:02
Shenandoah

Yup. This is Thornton. You will find him near Thornton Gap. He is sitting ON the trail. He doesn't move. You have to bushwhack around him. The thing about bears on the AT is you never know when and where they will appear. I saw a bear about 4 hours into my first day of my first AT hike, and I've seen at least one bear on every hike I've done. Others do multiple thru hikes with no sightings. You never know.

42454

James GAME2009
04-12-2018, 10:07
Time is an important aspect, and not time as in what month. You're most likely to see a bear in Shenandoah, although anywhere along the trail is possible. If you hike early and/or late your likelihood of a sighting will increase. This is due to activity times, as well as the fact that there will not be lots of other hikers around to have already scared the bear away. Bears do tend to be most active in the evenings.

PatmanTN
04-12-2018, 10:13
In the smokies---near a shelter.....

most shelters have a "resident" bear that hangs out knowing there is food available...

or hang out near the blueberries and blackberries on Gregory Bald or Spence Field

tdoczi
04-12-2018, 10:45
or hang out near the blueberries and blackberries on Gregory Bald or Spence Field

keyword being hang out. if the goal is to see a bear staying put will have more success than moving, though ive seen a number while moving.

used to be if you hiked in NJ around culvers gap anywhere near sunset it was almost impossible not to see one. biggest black bear ive ever seen and the only that didnt immediately run for it's life the second it noticed me (which is frequently before i notice them) was in stokes state forest on a side trail off the AT.

TNhiker
04-12-2018, 10:50
Cosby Shelter is a good one. Very persistent bear when we went through there a few years back.



yup....

packs have been "stolen" from there along with at the russell field shelter by bears.....

imscotty
04-12-2018, 10:56
Part of the secret of seeing wildlife on the trail is to hike quietly and hike alone. As stated the best time to see wildlife is in the early morning or around sunset when other hikers are still in camp.

It could be that the bears are there and you are just walking right by them. If you wear headphones when you hike turn the tunes off sometime and just walk and listen.

HooKooDooKu
04-12-2018, 10:57
I too would have said the Smokies just because of the density of bears and people.
And while shelters along the AT might be your best bet to see a bear, it's still the exception not the norm to encounter a bear at a Smokies shelter.

martinb
04-12-2018, 11:19
Smokies or Shenandoah. I've seen bears on more than half of my many hikes, on and off the AT, in the Smokies.

Berserker
04-12-2018, 12:04
All the bears I have seen have been in the spring or summer during the day, and all encounters were random with the exception of the "Blood Mountain" bear that was hanging out near my campsite in the middle of the night. I've seen bears in GA, GSMNP, VA and NJ so far. All the bear sightings with one exception involved me walking up on the bears. The GSMNP one was really interesting because it was a mother and a cub at a nondescript location a couple miles past Fontana Damn. Never seen another bear in GSMNP so far. The only encounter where I was stationary was at a shelter in VA (can't remember which one) where 2 juvenile bears showed up fighting each other. That was pretty neat to see. Once they realized I was there they high tailed it.

backtrack213
04-12-2018, 13:04
I saw 22 bears going through the Shenandoahs, probably one of my favorite sections because of all the wildlife i encountered. I've also seen bear in Maine, New Jersey, New York no luck in the other states.

LittleRock
04-12-2018, 13:05
Thanks everyone for the input. I hike alone and don't wear headphones but I'm often deep in my own head space and sometimes miss things.

My next section is Shenandoah - I'll definitely try to keep my eyes & ears open (and hang my food)!

johnacraft
04-12-2018, 13:23
My next section is Shenandoah - I'll definitely try to keep my eyes & ears open (and hang my food)!

I think you're more likely to see a bear near the AT in Shenandoah than GSMNP for a couple of reasons. A bear spends its day looking for food, and much of the AT in GSMNP is on the ridge. Simply put, there's easier places to find food than climbing all the way to the top of the mountain (shelter locations excepted). They're often spotted at lower altitudes (Cades Cove, along 441, etc.).

In SNP, the AT and Skyline Drive (and the attendant waysides, cars, picnic baskets, etc.) are never all that far apart, and everything is at much lower altitude.

TNhiker
04-12-2018, 13:39
A bear spends its day looking for food, and much of the AT in GSMNP is on the ridge. Simply put, there's easier places to find food than climbing all the way to the top of the mountain



but, its not like the ridge is so narrow that a bear cant get up to AT in the GSMNP...........there are plenty of places along the AT in the Park, where a bear has been known to hang out in a berry patch or something like that....

tdoczi
04-12-2018, 13:55
but, its not like the ridge is so narrow that a bear cant get up to AT in the GSMNP...........there are plenty of places along the AT in the Park, where a bear has been known to hang out in a berry patch or something like that....

all i saw (and heard even more) in the smokies were hogs. so many hogs. hogs everywhere. first time i heard them i figured it was a bear making weird noises then i remembered about the hogs.

SNP i saw bears 4 or 5 times. 2 of them only because others pointed them out (i am quite oblivious at times) but basically all the hikers (i got mixed in with a big bubble) i was with all had talked about seeing several of them daily.

i actually saw a bear cub along the AT in MA once. he was more afraid of me and then the black bears even usually are. ive also seen a moose in MA.

but yet i've never seen a porcupine. odd.

johnnybgood
04-12-2018, 14:17
Shenandoah Nat'l Park has a bear population approx. 300-500. I've had dozens of bear encounters over the years. Usually they run away if they see you or hear you coming.

BuckeyeBill
04-12-2018, 14:29
Too bad you are well past Clingman's Dome/US441 area as the bears don't care about noise/people. Here is a great video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBnGe9HDGBI) as an example.

Starchild
04-12-2018, 18:33
If you do the entire trail you will see at least 2 bears, at the Bear Mountain Zoo. That was my case on my thru - only those 2 bears. Saw plenty later, but again only those 2 :(

BlackCloud
04-13-2018, 08:53
I don't know how Shenandoah NP can support all those bears. They're everywhere. I've seen more black bears in that park than in all other outings combined. I also saw my biggest bear on Trayfoot Mtn in the Southern Section. 350 lbs I'd guess. Amazing.

tdoczi
04-13-2018, 08:57
I don't know how Shenandoah NP can support all those bears.

bet there are many times more people than bears on an even moderately crowded summer day

Koozy
04-13-2018, 10:40
Shenandoah, Smokies, and NJ.


I saw 23 bears over the course of my thru hike.
1 in Georgia (dead bear cub laying in the trail...does that count as a bear sighting?);
2 in the Smokies;
16 in Virginia (15 in Shenandoah over a 5 day period; 5 being the most in 1 day)
3 in New Jersey (ridge nI got mock charged)
1 in Baxter State Park.


Generally within 30 minutes of sunrise and sunset you have the best chance of seeing bears. This goes for pretty much all wildlife in general. In Shenandoah I saw bears at every point in the day.