MidTenn Trekker
06-06-2012, 12:58
While camping and hiking with our Boy Scout Troop this past weekend, we had some interesting encounters. We camped at the Cosby Campground in GSMNP and hiked on the AT for several miles in the area between Mt. Guyot and Davenport Gap, centered on the Mt. Cammerer area. We saw a bear on our hike and it scooted away when it saw us. The park rangers at Cosby advised us to be extra careful with our food and "smellables", as they had seen aggressive bear activity lately. A bear had bitten a cooler last Friday at the campsite. The ranger also said that three times in the last two weeks campers sleeping in hammocks had been "mouthed" by bears at night. The ranger said the bears did not bite the folks, but rather the bears were just checking out the hammock contents by getting their jaws around what was inside. Kind of like their version of tasting, I guess. When we left on Monday, they were attempting to trap a particularly aggressive bear at Cosby to relocate it. Finally on this point, the ranger said they had closed a primitive shelter above Cosby on the AT, due to aggressive bear actions.
When we hiked up on the AT to Mt. Cammerer (a little over 5,000 ft in elevation), the temperature at Noon was around 50 and the wind was gusting to 35+ mph. It was pretty cold, and we bundled up. To our great surprise, on a boulder right at the mountain top, we saw a fat, 4 1/2 foot long Timber Rattlesnake going slowly across the rock toward some bushes. It rattled while moving (not coiled) to let us know to stay clear, and we did. When we returned to the Cosby campground, we mentioned the snake to the ranger and he said there were several big rattlers up there. Seemed odd that they would thrive in a relatively cooler environ, but there must be plenty of prey that feed on crumps left by hikers. They also obviously liked to sun themselves on the rocks.
Anyway, these were some observations noted on or near the AT in the GSMNP. Be careful out there and have fun hiking and backpacking.
When we hiked up on the AT to Mt. Cammerer (a little over 5,000 ft in elevation), the temperature at Noon was around 50 and the wind was gusting to 35+ mph. It was pretty cold, and we bundled up. To our great surprise, on a boulder right at the mountain top, we saw a fat, 4 1/2 foot long Timber Rattlesnake going slowly across the rock toward some bushes. It rattled while moving (not coiled) to let us know to stay clear, and we did. When we returned to the Cosby campground, we mentioned the snake to the ranger and he said there were several big rattlers up there. Seemed odd that they would thrive in a relatively cooler environ, but there must be plenty of prey that feed on crumps left by hikers. They also obviously liked to sun themselves on the rocks.
Anyway, these were some observations noted on or near the AT in the GSMNP. Be careful out there and have fun hiking and backpacking.