PDA

View Full Version : bear activity in the smokys



shades of blue
06-07-2010, 20:48
Has anyone heard about recent bear activity in the Smokys. We were recently warned that bears were so bad, we should be worried about camping outside of shelters (if the shelter was full and we were considered thru-hikers according to park rules). Does anyone have any knowledge about this. The warning came from a reputable source.

Del Q
06-07-2010, 21:17
Inside or out, hang your food and all "smellies" a good distance from you, wash hands, sleep tight. I do not think that bears want much to do with Human's.

Bearbait
06-07-2010, 23:50
You can check their website and get updates on the shelters throughout the park. Some times the rangers will close a shelter if the BEAR activity gets to bad. This usually happens during the busy high traffic months ( April - June ). All the shelters have cables to hang your food. When I stay at a shelter, I'm more concerned about the mice getting into my food and pack than the bears.

Ox97GaMe
06-07-2010, 23:54
It is the time of year when bears are active in the park. They came out of hybernation (if you can call it that here in GSMNP) and the sows have their new cubs with them. It is still a bit early for the berries to be in season, so they have a limited food supply right now. Therefore, as with any other year, you are more likely to see bears roaming around the shelters, where hikers are discarding food and trash items.

Also, the park discourages camping outside the shelters except during thru hiker season. It is a method of reducing the impacts of overuse around the shelters. For most months (exept March and April) the general rule is that hikers are supposed to get a reservation to stay at a shelter and that tenting at the shelter is not allowed, unless given special permission by the park superintendent (granted only to trail crews, hog hunters, and park rangers)

shades of blue
06-08-2010, 05:39
Thanks folks....my source said that bears are especially bad this year. I've hiked the trail through the smokys before, and I've hiked the entire trail (over a few years). I've seen bears and I'm usually just careful. I was just wondering if things were unusually bad this year.
Thanks

Rcarver
06-08-2010, 07:22
I think they are a little worse this year then in years past. Saw two bears each of the past two weekends. They didn't seem all that eager to take off like they usually do. Had one come in the shelter at Tricorner several times through the night. Had one a Cosby Knob that prowled around for a while. Saw one before getting to Russell Field shelter heading South. Saw another one roaming around the horse camp on Anthony Creek. I think there are just too many of them in the park competing for the same food source.

Ox97GaMe
06-08-2010, 11:12
There are probably more actual bears. I would anticipate that. Sows have new cubs, so the population is up in spring. The population gets thinned out over the course of the summer by natural causes, or the park removing what they deem as problem bears.

The park is getting more press this year about bears than an average year, which probably isnt a good thing. It is increasing numbers of locals in the park who want to see if all the talk is true. Also, there is a lot of construction going on in the park, which is grouping the tourist into fewer areas of the park. This is probably impacting the habit of bears as well, as they are probably moving away from areas where heavy equipment and high noise levels exist.

As for the sightings noted at the shelters... Russell, Mollies, Collins, TriCorner, and Cosby shelters usually get bear activity every summer and usually have bear warnings posted all summer long. They also occassionally have to close these shelters for brief periods of time while they investigate bear reports.

Lastly.... most (if not all) of the bear incidents that I have heard about over the past 5 years have occurred because a person(s) were doing something that they probably should not have been doing. This includes such things as trying to get closer to a bear for the 'perfect' photo, leaving a pack unattended (even for a minute), cooking/eating in the shelter or leaving food in the shelter, trying to take food away from a bear (What were they thinking????).

If folks would treat bears the same way they do the deer in the park, there would be a LOT fewer issues. But, there is just something about seeing a bear in the wild that makes some folks turn into bumbling idiots. If you follow some general guidelines (posted by the park service) and a little bit of common sense (that your parents tried to teach), you should be ok. Bear warnings are like tornado warnings, and the park is ALWAYS under a bear 'watch'. It just means that conditions are favorable for one to be in the area. Very few people run outside to try to spot a tornado when that warning is enacted.

Ive been hiking in the park for nearly 15 years. I see a fair number of bears. It is their habitat and I respect that. I give them the right of way, and I always secure my food and my gear.

shades of blue
06-08-2010, 11:37
Thanks, that tells me what I need to know.

Bear Cables
06-09-2010, 16:53
Just got back from the Smokies yesterday.7 days of hiking. No bear sightings. We stayed at Cosby and Tricorner where Bears have been particularly active...no bears in sight. Did read in journal at Tricorner that a bear had come into the shelter so we just hung packs and food and smellables at both shelters. No problems but I really wanted to see at least one bear! Did encounter a pig ( see story on general posting)

Dobie Swift
06-11-2010, 19:16
Just got back from the Smokies yesterday.7 days of hiking. No bear sightings. We stayed at Cosby and Tricorner where Bears have been particularly active...no bears in sight. Did read in journal at Tricorner that a bear had come into the shelter so we just hung packs and food and smellables at both shelters. No problems but I really wanted to see at least one bear! Did encounter a pig ( see story on general posting)

Yup... bear came in on several hikers at Tricorner.... The Crock went face to face with the bear. After Crock screamed, the bear left, but stayed out front peering in until morning.

SGT Rock
06-11-2010, 19:50
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm

Half way down the page it lists any sites with reported bear activity and any sites that have been closed due to aggressive bears.

MkBibble
06-12-2010, 13:30
Well SGT Rock, once again I owe you a "thank you." Our family and two others are meeting in Gatlinburg the last week of June. You suggested some canoe ideas for me a few days ago.

About half of the group wants to do a short hike on the AT with an overnight stop. I was thinking Clingmans Dome in the afternoon. The non-hikers could drive back to Gatlinburg, and then pick up the hikers at Newfound Gap late the next morning. I JUST followed your link and saw that Mt. Collins shelter is closed. I called and verified it. So, thanks again!

Anybody else have any suggestions? I think there are a number of easy off/on places between I-40 and Hot Springs - might have to settle for one of those...

Sweetpea-NC
06-13-2010, 20:04
4 days in the back country and I personally only saw 1 bear. He was walking down the Bone valley trail, we were at campsite 84. Others in my group had seen another bear walking down the Bone Valley trial earlier while we were out hiking it to the cabin. We never did see that bear.

SGT Rock
06-13-2010, 20:07
Well SGT Rock, once again I owe you a "thank you." Our family and two others are meeting in Gatlinburg the last week of June. You suggested some canoe ideas for me a few days ago.

About half of the group wants to do a short hike on the AT with an overnight stop. I was thinking Clingmans Dome in the afternoon. The non-hikers could drive back to Gatlinburg, and then pick up the hikers at Newfound Gap late the next morning. I JUST followed your link and saw that Mt. Collins shelter is closed. I called and verified it. So, thanks again!

Anybody else have any suggestions? I think there are a number of easy off/on places between I-40 and Hot Springs - might have to settle for one of those...
I aim to please.

chelko
06-17-2010, 12:23
I heard from a ranger at Deep Creek last Friday that someone had to use bear spray on a bear along Hazel Creek lat Thursday resulting in the closing of sites 83 and 84. Any details?

TIDE-HSV
06-17-2010, 17:57
I heard from a ranger at Deep Creek last Friday that someone had to use bear spray on a bear along Hazel Creek lat Thursday resulting in the closing of sites 83 and 84. Any details?

That's an area with historic problems - tactics passed down from sows to cubs. Most usually, the papers don't really report details unless there's an injury or some other sensational aspect. I don't know that the NPS ever publicly reports the details. About the only way to get that is to talk to the rangers involved, and they are usually quite free about talking - particularly if you look like you know what you're doing...

HooKooDooKu
08-16-2010, 12:49
It must just be dumb luck, but every time I've hiked through an area that there were bear warning (posted at the trail head, or listed on the web page), I've never seen a bear. Yet the times that I have seen a bear, there weren't any bear warnings and I was frequently within the 1st mile of a trail from the trail head.

cevans
08-16-2010, 13:45
My girlfriend and I hiked up Little River Trail last Thursday Aug 12th, to camp site 24, from where we parked our car it was 5.5 miles, great weather, lite rain now and then to cool you off and by the time we got there at 4pm it was back to sunny. Its a nice camp site for 4 tents rather spread out away from each other, When we saw the firepit of the lowest camp site, full of burnt food cans, I told her, we don't want that one. So we took the middle site with the bear cables in it. by 5ish 3 other groups of campers showed up of which a young man and wife with 4 small kids, ages 5 to maybe 10, took the lower site with the trashed firepit. They made the fatal mistake of leaving all their packs at the firepit and taking the kids to the creek to play and at 5:30pm every body there, heard him shouting and blowing his whistle at a bear which had gotten into his pack of which had all their food. All of us campers went running and of course, we saw the small bear, with the pack walking down the trail, all of us shouting, blowing whistles, throwing rocks,,but he finally after about 10 minutes went up the hill with the pack and food. At 4 in the morning on Friday, Aug 13, My girlfriend wakes me, and sure enough, same bear is rattling the bear cables, with all of our packs and food on them. I get up and as soon as my lite hits him,,off he goes, about a hour later I go back to bed, At 7am, neighbors in 24 C, starts shouting and blowing their whistles, and once again, we all are up and slowly running the bear off again. Now 24 is officially closed as the park has to take care of the Bear, When I reported the bear Sat. afternoon after hiking down from camp site 23, the park rangers show me 2 pics, 4" x 6" colors, of 2 bears,,and asked me if I could pick the bear out..I pointed to the small bear pic, and asked them about the other pic of a very large bear, and they told me it was its mother, and she had just shed him and he was now on his own, They knew about him and didn't realize that he had become humanized to trash food. Therein lies the problem, Too many people aren't packing out their trash and they are all eating at the campfires instead of away from where your pitching your tents. Prior to this, Wed, when we stopped at Clingman's dome, we saw Rangers bringing out a trap with a bear in it, after hiking to the dome,,,they were bringing another empty trap back into that area. Then Sunday morning, we saw another bear, driving out of the park between Elkmont and Sugarlands Vis. Center near one of the falls areas. 4 Bears in 5 days. Right now, bears are feeding on anything they can get as they are bulking up for winter so all you can do is be careful and aware of what your doing.

TIDE-HSV
08-20-2010, 15:55
That trash in the fire pit stuff makes my blood boil. It's unfortunate that two organizations which should be policing it with their members are frequently at fault, because it's so hard to find and retain qualified leaders. I'm talking about BSA and the Sierra Club, and I'm a former member of each...

cevans
08-20-2010, 21:15
After 3 days, 2 nites, I carried out from 24 and 23 about 4 lbs of trash, of which half was ours, left all the burnt cans, and didn't put a dent into the trash. Even picked up cigarette butts here and there, I field strip my GF's and put the butts in my pocket in a baggie as we break when hiking. Its been a few years since I hiked in the Smokies, and I was pretty surprised at all of the trash up and down the trails, and especially at the campsites.

sevensixtwo187
08-23-2010, 12:47
That trash in the fire pit stuff makes my blood boil. It's unfortunate that two organizations which should be policing it with their members are frequently at fault, because it's so hard to find and retain qualified leaders. I'm talking about BSA and the Sierra Club, and I'm a former member of each...

Same here. Really ticks me off! I wish the rangers would catch a few of these folks in action and then make examples out of them. I mean maximum fines etc ... You make a strong example out of a few people and that goes a long way.

TheTwanger
11-23-2010, 02:46
Several of the back country sites on Fontana were off limits due to "aggressive bear activity" while we were canoe camping on Jerry Hollow there last month.

Uncle Cranky
11-23-2010, 09:38
That trash in the fire pit stuff makes my blood boil. It's unfortunate that two organizations which should be policing it with their members are frequently at fault, because it's so hard to find and retain qualified leaders. I'm talking about BSA and the Sierra Club, and I'm a former member of each...

I just finished my IOLS (Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills) training this weekend anticipating the new BSA re-chartering policies.
By 2011, no unit will receive a Charter from National Headquarters UNLESS the Scoutmaster is fully trained, which will include IOLS.
By 2012, all uniformed Troop leaders must be fully trained for a Troop to receive a Charter of operation from National.
Thus, what was once voluntary training will become MANDATORY for all leaders by 2012.
IOLS training emphasis is on LNT and hammers in "Pack it in Pack it out".
I've been involved in the BSA for 30 years as a youth and an adult.
Even us old school guys were indoctrinated by the BSA in "Pack it in Pack it out" since the early "60s.
Perhaps your pointing out leaders who either have not been trained or prefer to overlook their training.
The Sierra Club should follow the BSA' s lead in training their leadership.

Harrison Bergeron
11-25-2010, 13:34
I thought the park shelters all had a fence covering the open side. What's this about bears in the shelter? How does that happen?(!)

And, assuming they can't ordinarily get inside (otherwise what's the point of the fence!) why would you want to hang your food outside on a cable? Some of the above posts sound like they were hanging their food even when staying in the supposedly bear-proof shelters. I don't get it.

By the way, has anyone ever thought about using a MOUSE vault in the shelters? I bet a plastic jar wouldn't weigh more than a couple of ounces and it would probably hide the food smell good enough to sleep with your food instead of hanging it, even when tenting outside the Smokies. I was thinking maybe one of those clear plastic jars that Biscotti comes in might work pretty well. Comments?

SouthMark
11-25-2010, 15:50
Fences were removed from the ront of shelters in the Smokies several years ago.

Skippy
11-25-2010, 19:10
we did Davenport to Newfound last weekend and had a very large bear walk past the shelter at Cosby.

HikerRanky
11-25-2010, 19:43
Just returned from a week's trip over to the park and saw more signs warning of bear activity in the park than in the past, but didn't see a bear the entire trip. Of course, one was spotted at Mt. LeConte just a few weeks ago...

gollwoods
11-26-2010, 23:32
A bear's sense of smell is so acute that they can detect animal carcases upwind and from a distance of 20 miles away. You should just assume that they can smell the food in your food bag too.

gollwoods
11-26-2010, 23:33
A bear's sense of smell is so acute that they can detect animal carcases upwind and from a distance of 20 miles away. You should just assume that they can smell the food in your food bag too.


heres the link to the above quote..
http://sectionhiker.com/bears_sense_of_smell/

4eyedbuzzard
11-26-2010, 23:51
The Sierra Club should follow the BSA' s lead in training their leadership.
I would hope they do even better. :-?

HooKooDooKu
11-29-2010, 14:19
I thought the park shelters all had a fence covering the open side. What's this about bears in the shelter? How does that happen?(!)

From what I've heard (and I think I heard it here in the WhiteBlaze forums) people would sometimes taunt bears from within the "safty" of the fences. So as a park of renovating the shelters, they are also removing the chain link fences. Last I had heard, not ALL the shelters have been renovated, so at this point, some of the shelters in GSMNP have fences, some don't.

As an example of the renovated shelters, here's a picture I found with a Google search that shows the new shelter near the top of Mt Leconte (Note: Who ever was using the shelter that day/night apparently covered half the openning with a tarp, and you can find several more images of the shelter doing a google Image search for "LeConte Shelter")
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/6/5/p3240166_mt_leconte_shelter.jpg

coheterojo
11-29-2010, 15:10
Just got back from 3 days in the park. Fontana Dam to Russell Field, Russell Field to Silers Bald and, finally, Silers Bald to Welch Ridge to Hazel Creek and back to Fontana on the Lakeshore trail. 56 miles or so. I saw no bear activity on the AT. Many campsites on the Hazel Creek trail were closed due to bear activity. I saw where the park has set up cheap dome tents at these sites and have wildlife cameras chained to trees aimed at said tents no doubt in an effort to catch the offending bears on film. I saw this at sites #84, #85 and #86.
I seem to recall there were a number of other campsites listed as closed due to bear activity at the registration area at the Dam visitor center.

Ox97GaMe
11-29-2010, 20:35
There are only 2 shelters in the Smokies that still have the chain link fence in front; Laurel Gap Shelter (Not on the AT) and Davenport Gap Shelter.

Davenport was the first that was renovated. There is talk about going back in and removing the fence from that one, but I dont know if that will happen.

The rest have been renovated and the fence removed. We have noticed that there are fewer hiker/bear encounters at the renovated shelters. I guess some folks just dont want to find themselves face to face with a bear in the middle of the night and are starting to abide by the rules that have been posted on the walls for years.

I thought that folks went out to the woods looking for adventure. Apparently meeting a black bear is more adventure than most folks care for. :)

TIDE-HSV
12-01-2010, 02:02
I'm happy to hear that BSA is upgrading their leadership program...

TIDE-HSV
12-01-2010, 02:04
Just returned from a week's trip over to the park and saw more signs warning of bear activity in the park than in the past, but didn't see a bear the entire trip. Of course, one was spotted at Mt. LeConte just a few weeks ago...
Most of the times I've been atop LeConte, I've seen a bear. That's at least a couple dozen trips...

TheTwanger
12-01-2010, 16:53
It gets me laughing every time I think of the gsmnp fence removal. Instead of trying harder to correct the problem of people creating nuisance bears, just let the bears inside with them, see if they're brave enough to feed them then!

TheTwanger
12-01-2010, 16:53
I'll bet no one is feeding bears at shelters now though...

solobip
12-01-2010, 18:06
I thought the park shelters all had a fence covering the open side. What's this about bears in the shelter? How does that happen?(!)

And, assuming they can't ordinarily get inside (otherwise what's the point of the fence!) why would you want to hang your food outside on a cable? Some of the above posts sound like they were hanging their food even when staying in the supposedly bear-proof shelters. I don't get it.

By the way, has anyone ever thought about using a MOUSE vault in the shelters? I bet a plastic jar wouldn't weigh more than a couple of ounces and it would probably hide the food smell good enough to sleep with your food instead of hanging it, even when tenting outside the Smokies. I was thinking maybe one of those clear plastic jars that Biscotti comes in might work pretty well. Comments?

My son submitted a varmit safe for his Eagle Scout project but it was rejected by the GA ATC. Too much trash already was the thought. It was a piece of PVC pipe with a cap and a twist cap mounted. Now I see them all up and down the trail in GA. :-? Would have been a fun project.

TallShark
12-01-2010, 23:46
.. it was a ballsy young bear that wasnt afraid of us and actually followed a group of guys fo a while. fact of the matter is you are going to run into bears if you hike enough, you just have to be smart about encounters with wildlife.:banana

HooKooDooKu
12-02-2010, 10:27
We once had a doe follow us allong the Boulevard Trail to LeConte. At one point I stopped to take a picture of her. She must have come within 6' of me before the sound of the shutter made her jump back. Unfortunately, that was an old manual focus camera and the eye piece fogged over, so my focus as such close range was fuzzy.

Del Q
12-02-2010, 22:34
OK, so lets take a look at the facts.

Bears have an amazing sense of smell.

Most or all of us carry all kinds of goodies food-wise. Snickers, peanut butter, slim jims, nutella, cheese, gorp.........obvious stuff

All of these goodies are in our packs all day long where the smells all "cook" together, ..............and we bounce them around like 20,000 times per day.

Then we pull into a shelter / home..........where we have no idea if 24 hours ago they were cooking hot dogs and smores, or spraying what was left in their cook pots to the side of the shelter / home.

............and you said they can smell for 20 miles?

As a wise Gangster once said.............fuggedaboutit

Maybe hanging food is a foolish idea after all.

10-K
12-02-2010, 22:43
I thought bears went bedy-bye in the Winter?

Meaning... shouldn't bear activity start decreasing as it gets colder?

TallShark
12-03-2010, 22:15
I thought bears went bedy-bye in the Winter?

Meaning... shouldn't bear activity start decreasing as it gets colder?

Me too but the bear we saw was during a snowy day in november.:-?

Harrison Bergeron
12-04-2010, 23:39
OK, so lets take a look at the facts.

Bears have an amazing sense of smell.

Most or all of us carry all kinds of goodies food-wise. Snickers, peanut butter, slim jims, nutella, cheese, gorp.........obvious stuff

All of these goodies are in our packs all day long where the smells all "cook" together, ..............and we bounce them around like 20,000 times per day.

Then we pull into a shelter / home..........where we have no idea if 24 hours ago they were cooking hot dogs and smores, or spraying what was left in their cook pots to the side of the shelter / home.

............and you said they can smell for 20 miles?

As a wise Gangster once said.............fuggedaboutit

Maybe hanging food is a foolish idea after all.

They can smell food from 20 miles away, that's a fact! Why, they know where every single hiker on the AT is within 20 miles, just from the stench of B.O. and Ramen noodles!

And I heard they even have x-ray vision, and see better than an eagle, even at night! They can literally see the food in your pack from the next mountain! And you know why you can hike for hundreds of miles without actually ever seeing a bear? Because they can make themselves invisible any time they want!

So you can be sure they're always there, smelling your food from two day's hike a way, just watching you all the time with their super x-ray vision!!!

No point in taking any precautions. It's hopeless. They can have you any time they want.

Digger'02
12-07-2010, 10:18
I thought bears went bedy-bye in the Winter?

Meaning... shouldn't bear activity start decreasing as it gets colder?


Black bears in the east don't hibernate like other species (or so I have been told). In the Smokies, you can see a bear 13 months a year. As a matter of fact, the bigger ones spend more time out inthe winter. So make sure to be polite.