Apparently there continues to be claims of Mountain Lions in GSMNP.

While filtering some water during a break at Double Spring Gap shelter, a family of 5 staying at the shelter told a story of being tracked by a mountain lion the night before. I recall that a part of their story included a heap lamp, that they saw the cat's head, and the distance between the cat's eyes indicated it was a huge one... (I think they said they estimated it to be 400lbs?).

I must admit that my first thoughts are that they some how mistook a deer for a mountain lion... after all, that same night, at Silers Bald shelter, a hiking buddy at first thought he had seen a bear when we saw a pair of eyes reflecting his headlamp... but he quickly figured out it was a deer (something not unusual to see around GSMNP campsites, especially near dusk).

But I also couldn't totally discount their story as apparently about 10 sighting of mountain lions are reported each year in GSMNP, and there have been some confirmed mountain lion sightings in Tennessee. (From what I recall the last time I read some news stories on the subject, it's believed there are no breeding populations of mountain lions in Tennessee, just the occasional individual cat that has wondered from either out west or Florida).