A Sureal experience....

[Greyson2]

I'm not sure what category to put this story under, so i hope i'm in the right spot. So Me, My Wife and two daughters planned a trip this weekend to Gatlinburg. My wife loves the shopping, I love the mountains, seems like a great compromise. Day one is rather unexciting. A lot of walking, people watching eating and Shopping. Day two was my Day to decide what to do. My plan was to wake up as early as possible Saturday Morning and get to the Roaring fork Motor Trail before the crowd shows up, and supposedly its a great time to see wildlife. I pack up the wife and kids around 7 to head to the Motor Trail. It's a nice easy drive from Gatlinburg, and takes about 15 minutes to get there. We enter Roaring Fork around 7:30ish, and start the slow drive through. There are a lot of bends and turns in the road (obviously going through the mountains) and as we come around one my wife and I simultaneously spot a big black four legged animal walking down the road ahead of us just around a bend. We hurry up and get the girls out of their car seats and sit them on our laps. This is the first time any of us have seen a bear in the wild, and it was a great experience. He/She just meandered down the road at a very slow pace, picking berries off the bushes every once in a while. We followed behind him for about 1/4 mile before he finally trotted off into the woods. What a Great start to our morning! We where feeling high and mighty knowing we encountered a Bear and nobody lost limbs or lives. While we were in The motor Trail i wanted to hike the Rainbow Trail, and i knew it was going to be the first trailhead we would come across. As we approached it, the cars where piling up at a very rapid rate, and i was very upset realizing we weren't the only one's with the plan to get to the Motor Trail early. The parking lot was nearly full, so i decided to keep going, hoping everyone was doing the Rainbow Trail first, so the other trails may not be as crowded yet. I was right, the next trailhead was for the Grotto Fallls and there was ONE single car in the parking area. We hurried up out of our cars, got all of our belongings we might need (So i thought) and headed off to the trail. Its is a 1.4 mile walk along a ridge line that takes you to a Waterfall and Grotto. Very easy walk for the most part. As we start our ascent and around corners we start to notice heavy bear poop. Very fresh Bear poop. One poop was a HUGE pile of shredded reddish berries mixed with Reddish poop. The other poop we saw where pellet like and black, sort of like deer poop but much bigger, and much more. I thought this was very odd that most of the poop was pellet like, and then out of nowhere was this big huge pile of different color/texture poop. I'm guessing it was either a really big bear with a different diet, or a different animal? (Anyone know) Needless to say, all of it was VERY fresh like we were in very close proximity to the bears that just relieved themselves. My wife takes pics of the poop (Weird i know, but im sure one of you is going to ask for the pic so it might come in handy. LOl) and we move on. As we get to about the half way point of the trail, my wife luckily turns around to see TWO black Bears "stalking" us from about 50 feet away. Now this is the first time we've ever came across a Bear without the safety of the car. At first I'm calm and go through the routine of acting big, and making noises with my mouth and the stick i have in my hand. They keep coming... In my head i'm thinking "Whiteblaze always taught me if encountered by a Bear stand your ground, act big and make noise, but DO NOT LOSE EYE CONTACT." Well I'm here to say that Sh@t didn't work! :) Now they are about 25 feet from me, and i'm in between them and my family telling my wife to walk backwards maintaining eye contact. As they get to about 20 or so feet from me, the first one stops, turns to his buddy for a second and then turns back at me and starts a gallop (Best word to describe it. But it was really like my Dog at home, where they have this playful look on there face, there mouths are wide open and there front feet are kicking out in front of them like they are in a playful attack mode) Thats the best way i can describe it. It was very surreal to see this large animal running at me, and my family is right behind me. He gallops (NO snarling, or growling or drooling) right up to about 5 feet from me (This is not an exaggeration) and takes a quick turn into the woods, right before we were about to get into an all out war. He never feared me, nor did he seem to really want to hurt me. I'm not sure if it was a test to see if we were going to be an easy target or what, but he tested me all the way to my limits. As he darted UP the cliffside (The forest is really dense right now, so once the Bear got off trail, he was gone in no time) my attention turned to the Second Bear who was still pacing towards us. I kept firm eye contact on him the whole time while making this creepiesh howling noise (I dont know where it came from, but my wife and kids thought it was a hysterical noise after the fact. I was the butt of all the jokes after that for the noise i was making.) This one kept his distance from us, but would not let up from "stalking" us. Now I forgot to mention, one of my Daughters is TWO years old, the other is 7. My wife carried the two year old, and the seven year old stood in between us. As we come to a spot on the trail, where it sort of doubles back, and heads up a steep ridge, we could see back on the trail we came from, and the second bear was still slowly following us. This is the last i saw of the second bear, as we where far enough away that we could actually run up the trail a ways. to get a safer distance from him. Once we got to the Grotto, we hung out there for a while in shock. My wife cried, realizing how close we where to immediate danger, while my two daughters played in the water fall without a care in the world. Daddy's Heart was beating out of his chest, as im planning our escape route through the gauntlet of Bears we imagine are going to be waiting for us on the way back on the trail. Luckily we waited at the Waterfall for a good 30 minutes, hoping those from the Rainbow Trail would all be gracing us with there presence soon. We where right, as we started our trek back to our car (It was an out and back trail, not a loop) there where people coming by the packs up the trail. Families with babies and kids, elders, Amish. As we passed people we would tell them what we experienced and wish them luck, but most looked at us like we where crazy. Funny thing is, when we got back to the section that we saw the Bears there was a group of people gathered looking at a Bear lounging up in a tree. Right in the same spot the encounter happened. When we got to the "viewing" area, this Bear stands up, and starts climbing down the tree. We moved along knowing we had seen enough of that Bear earlier in the day, and we didnt want to see him up close again. I have never seen my wife so Happy to see her car. We did a couple more hikes that day (Laurell Falls and Clingmons Dome) after we reported the Bear sighting.
Side Note: My Wife started Her Period (Sorry if TMI) literally right when we got on the trail, and she had not Tampons on her. Could this possibly be why the Bears where after us? Has anyone else had an experience like this?

[gumball]

I doubt if your wife's cycle had anything to do with this. Bears are, unfortunately, often very habituated to people in areas with high traffic. Remember, you are still in their home. My only advice is never to run from a bear. They are faster, stronger and you look like prey when you do that.

I'm sure others will have comment, glad all are safe.

[Magic_Mack]

You Sir have more patience than I. I would have spent the afternoon filling out paperwork with the NPS over killing a bear.

[Kookork]

It did not sound like an attack to me. The bear showed the sign of a normal bear in a high traffic area.They are not afraid or weary about the hiking family as much as we expect. You did a great job handling the situation knowing your circumstances. About the eye contact , I won't have full eye contact with a gigantic bear unless there is no obvious fear in my eyes. Medium and small bear a solid eye contact might do the job.

The season for the bears is not desperate as you witnessed via their poo. No need to hunt human's.

[HooKooDooKu]

First of all, the "big deer poop" was likely llama poop. Llama's haul supplies up to Mt. LeConte Lodge and haul trash back down via Trillium Gap Trail (the trail leading to Grotto Falls and beyond). A 'Llama train' (a group of 3 to 7 llamas) makes the round trip to Mt. LeConte on Mon, Wed, & Fri. Llamas are used because they are strong pack animals with soft foot pads that do far less damage to the trail than horses do.

As for the bears, sounds like you handle them well. I too have had a bear approach me (within 25ft) but never charge me. My encounter simply required a loud noise a raising my hiking stick over my head (it's a huge stick... I call it Moses because it looks to be the size of the staff Moses is seen using in the movie "The Ten Commandments") to run the bear off. In your case, the bear for some reason decided to do a bluff charge. Standing your ground was the right action, even if terrifying.

But as the others have stated, this was all "normal" bear behavior. Granted, it was not a 'typical' bear encounter in the GSMNP. Usually, the moment a bear notices you approaching it runs off into the woods (unless it's far enough away to feel safe ignoring you). Did you have any food (snacks and such) on you? That could be one reason the bears "stalked" you. If so, the only other thing you could have done to protect your family would have been to throw the food between you and the bear (once it became apparent that you were not going to scare it off). But by standing your ground, you've avoid helping to teach this bear to equate people with a source of food. So my hat's off to you for your actions... actions that not only protected your family, but just might have protected the bear as well.

[Greyson2]

If it was Gigantic Kookork, I would have had to change my pants! LOL They seemed to be "maturing" Bears. When we went into the Sugarland Center (I think thats what it was called.) they had a Museum with a Bear displayed, and they where a bit smaller than that bear, but close enough in size that they where definitely mature Bears. The part i find odd, is there where two together. Literally right next to eachother, so thats why i'm thinking they where still a bit younger.
Thank You Hookoo, i was hoping somebody had an idea why i saw two different kinds of poops. If Llama's eat Berries and poop straight down (Not walk and poop) than i'm certain it was llama poop. It was on a Saturday morning, but that doesnt mean much i suppose. And i did have a few snacks in my Backpack, and that was also running through my train of thought. Throw the bag and hope thats what they are after.

[HikerMom58]

I'm not sure what category to put this story under, so i hope i'm in the right spot. So Me, My Wife and two daughters planned a trip this weekend to Gatlinburg. My wife loves the shopping, I love the mountains, seems like a great compromise. Day one is rather unexciting. A lot of walking, people watching eating and Shopping. Day two was my Day to decide what to do. My plan was to wake up as early as possible Saturday Morning and get to the Roaring fork Motor Trail before the crowd shows up, and supposedly its a great time to see wildlife. I pack up the wife and kids around 7 to head to the Motor Trail. It's a nice easy drive from Gatlinburg, and takes about 15 minutes to get there. We enter Roaring Fork around 7:30ish, and start the slow drive through. There are a lot of bends and turns in the road (obviously going through the mountains) and as we come around one my wife and I simultaneously spot a big black four legged animal walking down the road ahead of us just around a bend. We hurry up and get the girls out of their car seats and sit them on our laps. This is the first time any of us have seen a bear in the wild, and it was a great experience. He/She just meandered down the road at a very slow pace, picking berries off the bushes every once in a while. We followed behind him for about 1/4 mile before he finally trotted off into the woods. What a Great start to our morning! We where feeling high and mighty knowing we encountered a Bear and nobody lost limbs or lives. While we were in The motor Trail i wanted to hike the Rainbow Trail, and i knew it was going to be the first trailhead we would come across. As we approached it, the cars where piling up at a very rapid rate, and i was very upset realizing we weren't the only one's with the plan to get to the Motor Trail early. The parking lot was nearly full, so i decided to keep going, hoping everyone was doing the Rainbow Trail first, so the other trails may not be as crowded yet. I was right, the next trailhead was for the Grotto Fallls and there was ONE single car in the parking area. We hurried up out of our cars, got all of our belongings we might need (So i thought) and headed off to the trail. Its is a 1.4 mile walk along a ridge line that takes you to a Waterfall and Grotto. Very easy walk for the most part. As we start our ascent and around corners we start to notice heavy bear poop. Very fresh Bear poop. One poop was a HUGE pile of shredded reddish berries mixed with Reddish poop. The other poop we saw where pellet like and black, sort of like deer poop but much bigger, and much more. I thought this was very odd that most of the poop was pellet like, and then out of nowhere was this big huge pile of different color/texture poop. I'm guessing it was either a really big bear with a different diet, or a different animal? (Anyone know) Needless to say, all of it was VERY fresh like we were in very close proximity to the bears that just relieved themselves. My wife takes pics of the poop (Weird i know, but im sure one of you is going to ask for the pic so it might come in handy. LOl) and we move on. As we get to about the half way point of the trail, my wife luckily turns around to see TWO black Bears "stalking" us from about 50 feet away. Now this is the first time we've ever came across a Bear without the safety of the car. At first I'm calm and go through the routine of acting big, and making noises with my mouth and the stick i have in my hand. They keep coming... In my head i'm thinking "Whiteblaze always taught me if encountered by a Bear stand your ground, act big and make noise, but DO NOT LOSE EYE CONTACT." Well I'm here to say that Sh@t didn't work! :) Now they are about 25 feet from me, and i'm in between them and my family telling my wife to walk backwards maintaining eye contact. As they get to about 20 or so feet from me, the first one stops, turns to his buddy for a second and then turns back at me and starts a gallop (Best word to describe it. But it was really like my Dog at home, where they have this playful look on there face, there mouths are wide open and there front feet are kicking out in front of them like they are in a playful attack mode) Thats the best way i can describe it. It was very surreal to see this large animal running at me, and my family is right behind me. He gallops (NO snarling, or growling or drooling) right up to about 5 feet from me (This is not an exaggeration) and takes a quick turn into the woods, right before we were about to get into an all out war. He never feared me, nor did he seem to really want to hurt me. I'm not sure if it was a test to see if we were going to be an easy target or what, but he tested me all the way to my limits. As he darted UP the cliffside (The forest is really dense right now, so once the Bear got off trail, he was gone in no time) my attention turned to the Second Bear who was still pacing towards us. I kept firm eye contact on him the whole time while making this creepiesh howling noise (I dont know where it came from, but my wife and kids thought it was a hysterical noise after the fact. I was the butt of all the jokes after that for the noise i was making.) This one kept his distance from us, but would not let up from "stalking" us. Now I forgot to mention, one of my Daughters is TWO years old, the other is 7. My wife carried the two year old, and the seven year old stood in between us. As we come to a spot on the trail, where it sort of doubles back, and heads up a steep ridge, we could see back on the trail we came from, and the second bear was still slowly following us. This is the last i saw of the second bear, as we where far enough away that we could actually run up the trail a ways. to get a safer distance from him. Once we got to the Grotto, we hung out there for a while in shock. My wife cried, realizing how close we where to immediate danger, while my two daughters played in the water fall without a care in the world. Daddy's Heart was beating out of his chest, as im planning our escape route through the gauntlet of Bears we imagine are going to be waiting for us on the way back on the trail. Luckily we waited at the Waterfall for a good 30 minutes, hoping those from the Rainbow Trail would all be gracing us with there presence soon. We where right, as we started our trek back to our car (It was an out and back trail, not a loop) there where people coming by the packs up the trail. Families with babies and kids, elders, Amish. As we passed people we would tell them what we experienced and wish them luck, but most looked at us like we where crazy. Funny thing is, when we got back to the section that we saw the Bears there was a group of people gathered looking at a Bear lounging up in a tree. Right in the same spot the encounter happened. When we got to the "viewing" area, this Bear stands up, and starts climbing down the tree. We moved along knowing we had seen enough of that Bear earlier in the day, and we didnt want to see him up close again. I have never seen my wife so Happy to see her car. We did a couple more hikes that day (Laurell Falls and Clingmons Dome) after we reported the Bear sighting.
Side Note: My Wife started Her Period (Sorry if TMI) literally right when we got on the trail, and she had not Tampons on her. Could this possibly be why the Bears where after us? Has anyone else had an experience like this?

Cool story..I'm glad you all are safe.. My fav. is the part, I put in bold.... Funny!! :) I would have remembered reading not to make direct eye contact with the bear but everything else was what I would have done, if I didn't pass out, first. ;) Great job!! :)

[fins1838]

I know one thing, along with Llama & bear poop, there would of been a lot of Gary poop!

[Pedaling Fool]

As they get to about 20 or so feet from me, the first one stops, turns to his buddy for a second and then turns back at me and starts a gallop (Best word to describe it. But it was really like my Dog at home, where they have this playful look on there face, there mouths are wide open and there front feet are kicking out in front of them like they are in a playful attack mode) Thats the best way i can describe it. It was very surreal to see this large animal running at me, and my family is right behind me. He gallops (NO snarling, or growling or drooling) right up to about 5 feet from me (This is not an exaggeration) and takes a quick turn into the woods, right before we were about to get into an all out war. He never feared me, nor did he seem to really want to hurt me. I'm not sure if it was a test to see if we were going to be an easy target or what, but he tested me all the way to my limits. As he darted UP the cliffside (The forest is really dense right now, so once the Bear got off trail, he was gone in no time) my attention turned to the Second Bear who was still pacing towards us. I kept firm eye contact on him the whole time while making this creepiesh howling noise (I dont know where it came from, but my wife and kids thought it was a hysterical noise after the fact. I was the butt of all the jokes after that for the noise i was making.) This one kept his distance from us, but would not let up from "stalking" us. Now I forgot to mention, one of my Daughters is TWO years old, the other is 7. My wife carried the two year old, and the seven year old stood in between us. As we come to a spot on the trail, where it sort of doubles back, and heads up a steep ridge, we could see back on the trail we came from, and the second bear was still slowly following us. This is the last i saw of the second bear, as we where far enough away that we could actually run up the trail a ways. to get a safer distance from him. Once we got to the Grotto, we hung out there for a while in shock. My wife cried, realizing how close we where to immediate danger, while my two daughters played in the water fall without a care in the world. Daddy's Heart was beating out of his chest, as im planning our escape route through the gauntlet of Bears we imagine are going to be waiting for us on the way back on the trail. Luckily we waited at the Waterfall for a good 30 minutes, hoping those from the Rainbow Trail would all be gracing us with there presence soon.
Black bears do NOT growl or roar, at least I never heard them make that noise and I've looked. This link has a video near the bottom of the page and it's two male bears fighting, some weird noises, but no growling http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/communication/64-do-black-bears-growl.html


Here are some other vocalizations, maybe you can pick one out http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/communication/29-vocalizations-a-body-language.html




You say, "....and there front feet are kicking out in front of them like they are in a playful attack mode..." Was he pouncing on his front paws? That's an indication of fear and warning.

I had a run-in with a bear once that did not want me to pass, he kept pouncing on his front paws and chomping his jaws and huffing/puffing at me. It was a little scary, but after getting a pic (in my gallery) I just walked on, but he didn't like it.

I tend to think that these were young unexperienced bears and were somewhat use to seeing people, but that's not to say they were/are harmless. Always keep your kids close, give a bear a chance and they WILL snatch a child, it's just too tempting, i.e. easy food source in their eyes.



http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/6/9/3/6/06-15-061626.jpg (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showimage.php?i=17964&original=1&catid=member&imageuser=6936)

[Greyson2]

Wow thats a big bear! These two were not near that size, probably about half that size. And no he wasnt pouncing on his front paws. It was more like what a horse or dog does when they are prancing. Its a distinct posture, and dogs/horses do it as a playful prance. Sort of like he was running up to greet me. And they made no noises, which scares me to death because we would have never heard them coming from behind us. My wife just happened to look back, and they where approaching.

[ladydi]

Holy Smokes! :eek: Here's my "Bearly Surviving" story < http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=28306 > of '02 in GSMNP. I thought you weren't supposed to make eye contact...:confused: Anyway, I'm still here.

[ladydi]

Oops, that shelter has been rebuilt since my encounter there.

[blue indian]

I've always heard eye contact was a not a good thing. Sort of like challenging the bear.

Intense story though. Especially with the kiddos along.

The silent approach would have creeped me out too. You couldn't hear them at all?

[blue indian]

Meant to say, making direct eye contact is sort of like challenging the bear. At least that's what I've heard..

[MuddyWaters]

Yep, do not make eye contact, thats aggressive behavior.

One thing you can also do is move off the trail, uphill so you look larger to the bears

[nu2hike]

I suggest reading " A Handful of Idiots and a Bunch of Bears" by CJ Hernley! It's one if the most enlightening books on bears and human interaction I've read!
According to CJ you would be a fool not to watch the bear very closely and that "don't look them in the eye" is a myth!
Her expertise is mostly with grizzlies but there is a chapter in the book by another author whose specialty is black bears!
It's a great book!

[rocketsocks]

I'm not sure what category to put this story under, so i hope i'm in the right spot. So Me, My Wife and two daughters planned a trip this weekend to Gatlinburg. My wife loves the shopping, I love the mountains, seems like a great compromise. Day one is rather unexciting. A lot of walking, people watching eating and Shopping. Day two was my Day to decide what to do. My plan was to wake up as early as possible Saturday Morning and get to the Roaring fork Motor Trail before the crowd shows up, and supposedly its a great time to see wildlife. I pack up the wife and kids around 7 to head to the Motor Trail. It's a nice easy drive from Gatlinburg, and takes about 15 minutes to get there. We enter Roaring Fork around 7:30ish, and start the slow drive through. There are a lot of bends and turns in the road (obviously going through the mountains) and as we come around one my wife and I simultaneously spot a big black four legged animal walking down the road ahead of us just around a bend. We hurry up and get the girls out of their car seats and sit them on our laps. This is the first time any of us have seen a bear in the wild, and it was a great experience. He/She just meandered down the road at a very slow pace, picking berries off the bushes every once in a while. We followed behind him for about 1/4 mile before he finally trotted off into the woods. What a Great start to our morning! We where feeling high and mighty knowing we encountered a Bear and nobody lost limbs or lives. While we were in The motor Trail i wanted to hike the Rainbow Trail, and i knew it was going to be the first trailhead we would come across. As we approached it, the cars where piling up at a very rapid rate, and i was very upset realizing we weren't the only one's with the plan to get to the Motor Trail early. The parking lot was nearly full, so i decided to keep going, hoping everyone was doing the Rainbow Trail first, so the other trails may not be as crowded yet. I was right, the next trailhead was for the Grotto Fallls and there was ONE single car in the parking area. We hurried up out of our cars, got all of our belongings we might need (So i thought) and headed off to the trail. Its is a 1.4 mile walk along a ridge line that takes you to a Waterfall and Grotto. Very easy walk for the most part. As we start our ascent and around corners we start to notice heavy bear poop. Very fresh Bear poop. One poop was a HUGE pile of shredded reddish berries mixed with Reddish poop. The other poop we saw where pellet like and black, sort of like deer poop but much bigger, and much more. I thought this was very odd that most of the poop was pellet like, and then out of nowhere was this big huge pile of different color/texture poop. I'm guessing it was either a really big bear with a different diet, or a different animal? (Anyone know) Needless to say, all of it was VERY fresh like we were in very close proximity to the bears that just relieved themselves. My wife takes pics of the poop (Weird i know, but im sure one of you is going to ask for the pic so it might come in handy. LOl) and we move on. As we get to about the half way point of the trail, my wife luckily turns around to see TWO black Bears "stalking" us from about 50 feet away. Now this is the first time we've ever came across a Bear without the safety of the car. At first I'm calm and go through the routine of acting big, and making noises with my mouth and the stick i have in my hand. They keep coming... In my head i'm thinking "Whiteblaze always taught me if encountered by a Bear stand your ground, act big and make noise, but DO NOT LOSE EYE CONTACT. "Well I'm here to say that Sh@t didn't work! :) Now they are about 25 feet from me, and i'm in between them and my family telling my wife to walk backwards maintaining eye contact. As they get to about 20 or so feet from me, the first one stops, turns to his buddy for a second and then turns back at me and starts a gallop (Best word to describe it. But it was really like my Dog at home, where they have this playful look on there face, there mouths are wide open and there front feet are kicking out in front of them like they are in a playful attack mode) Thats the best way i can describe it. It was very surreal to see this large animal running at me, and my family is right behind me. He gallops (NO snarling, or growling or drooling) right up to about 5 feet from me (This is not an exaggeration) and takes a quick turn into the woods, right before we were about to get into an all out war. He never feared me, nor did he seem to really want to hurt me. I'm not sure if it was a test to see if we were going to be an easy target or what, but he tested me all the way to my limits. As he darted UP the cliffside (The forest is really dense right now, so once the Bear got off trail, he was gone in no time) my attention turned to the Second Bear who was still pacing towards us. I kept firm eye contact on him the whole time while making this creepiesh howling noise (I dont know where it came from, but my wife and kids thought it was a hysterical noise after the fact. I was the butt of all the jokes after that for the noise i was making.) This one kept his distance from us, but would not let up from "stalking" us. Now I forgot to mention, one of my Daughters is TWO years old, the other is 7. My wife carried the two year old, and the seven year old stood in between us. As we come to a spot on the trail, where it sort of doubles back, and heads up a steep ridge, we could see back on the trail we came from, and the second bear was still slowly following us. This is the last i saw of the second bear, as we where far enough away that we could actually run up the trail a ways. to get a safer distance from him. Once we got to the Grotto, we hung out there for a while in shock. My wife cried, realizing how close we where to immediate danger, while my two daughters played in the water fall without a care in the world. Daddy's Heart was beating out of his chest, as im planning our escape route through the gauntlet of Bears we imagine are going to be waiting for us on the way back on the trail. Luckily we waited at the Waterfall for a good 30 minutes, hoping those from the Rainbow Trail would all be gracing us with there presence soon. We where right, as we started our trek back to our car (It was an out and back trail, not a loop) there where people coming by the packs up the trail. Families with babies and kids, elders, Amish. As we passed people we would tell them what we experienced and wish them luck, but most looked at us like we where crazy. Funny thing is, when we got back to the section that we saw the Bears there was a group of people gathered looking at a Bear lounging up in a tree. Right in the same spot the encounter happened. When we got to the "viewing" area, this Bear stands up, and starts climbing down the tree. We moved along knowing we had seen enough of that Bear earlier in the day, and we didnt want to see him up close again. I have never seen my wife so Happy to see her car. We did a couple more hikes that day (Laurell Falls and Clingmons Dome) after we reported the Bear sighting.
Side Note: My Wife started Her Period (Sorry if TMI) literally right when we got on the trail, and she had not Tampons on her. Could this possibly be why the Bears where after us? Has anyone else had an experience like this?


Cool story..I'm glad you all are safe.. My fav. is the part, I put in bold.... Funny!! :) I would have remembered reading not to make direct eye contact with the bear but everything else was what I would have done, if I didn't pass out, first. ;) Great job!! :)My favorite part...LOL

[Greyson2]

Could not hear them one bit! They where on the same dirt trail we were on, and they made no noise coming out of the woods. My guess is they where tracking us for a little while before we actually saw them.
When i say eye contact, i simply mean do not turn your back to the Bear. Its sort of hard to keep contact with a Bear that is coming towards you without looking in its eyes, they are so low to the ground. All you see is a big brown nose, eyes and black fur shifting as he walks. Very creepy seeing without a cage in between.
Muddywaters.... Moving uphill would be a good idea if the terrain allowed you to do that. This particular trail runs along a ridge line, were one side is a heavily wooded mountain cliff up and the other is heavily wooded cliff to "i dont know where". :):)

[Greyson2]

Loved the Journal Write up Ladydi! It seems you and i encountered the same type of behavior from the Bears. We could have probably ran up the hill a little, but with two adults and two kids, someone was going to slide back down that hill and become a tasty treat! HAHA
The funny thing is, the night before i was talking to my daughter about all things we need to do if we encounter a Bear. And she asks me, But Dad these are all things me and Mommy must do, what about you. I told her 'Dont worry about me, i'm the fastest one in the family." She didn't like that response to much.