Bears in Shenny's

[earlyriser26]

I have hiked the southern half of the trail and the smokies 7 times and have seen a total of 3 bears (single, and mother/cub). I took a hike this weekend between Lewis mountain and thorton gap in VA and saw 4 bears (one on thursday, mother and cub on friday, and another on saturday). Was I just lucky or is this area bear central? BTW this section of the AT is, IMO, the easiest section of the AT (at least in the south). Great place for a novice for a first time hike.

[Blissful]

I've hiked a lot on Shenandoah and hardly ever see them. Guess you got lucky.

[FritztheCat]

I saw one around Loft Mountain Campground last week. Fantastic!

[squeeze]

If I remember correctly, I saw 10 or 11 in the SNP in 2003.

[Bags4266]

Just got back from a long section thru the SNP. Came 20 feet from one. He stopped I stopped, it was a Mexican stand off. I walked by him talking calmly. I never felt threatened it was a great experience to be so close to something that could rip my head off in a second yet he was probally more afraid of me. As I passed I keep looking behind me just to make sure he didn't change his mind.

[Mrs Baggins]

We were camped at Big Meadows campground, up against the wetlands area, a couple of weeks or so ago. The rangers told us to stay out of the wetlands because there was a mother and two cubs denned in a tree back there. We never saw them. Did a lot of day hiking over 3 days and, even deep in the forest where we were sure we'd see at least one bear, we never did. Lots and lots of deer and one raccoon though! The raccoon waddled out of the wetlands, went under our van and proceeded to give himself a peaceful bath.

[Uncle Cranky]

Last week my family went to Shenendoah to link up with my oldest son who is doing a north bound thru hike.
While there we decided to do a short day hike together on the AT near Black Rocks.
As we came down off the mountain I spotted a large bear in a tree about 15 yards to our left.
I was at the tail end of the group and called out to the others ahead to check out the bear.
On hearing me call out the bear shinnied down the tree and disappeared into the underbrush.
My thru hiker son commented on the unfairness of life...he had hiked 850 miles to see a bear and we had only gone 6!!
While we were driving out of the park we happened upon a cub by the side of skyline drive.
Two sightings in one day...fantastic!

[left turn]

my friend who has thru hiked a lot and says that every time he goes through Shenendoah he always sees bears. he also says thats the only place on the AT he has seen them. he's some close encounters and tries to breeze through that section.

[Pedaling Fool]

Of all the times I've been thru GSMNP I've never seen a bear, but that's probably because I've always been thru there during the time of year when they're not very active. However, I've seen lots of bears in SNP and a lot more bear "left-overs", including the biggest blueberry pile I've ever seen. I also got between a mother and her cub in SNP.

This bear was in SNP, he was not pleased with my presence and actually started thumping his front feet on the ground -- guess he was camera shy

[Bear Cables]

Of all the times I've been thru GSMNP I've never seen a bear, but that's probably because I've always been thru there during the time of year when they're not very active. However, I've seen lots of bears in SNP and a lot more bear "left-overs", including the biggest blueberry pile I've ever seen. I also got between a mother and her cub in SNP.

This bear was in SNP, he was not pleased with my presence and actually started thumping his front feet on the ground -- guess he was camera shy

Fabulous picture! I think you have referenced North American Bear Center before, so you know that the foot stamp is the Bear saying that he's nervous and give him some space. We saw a Mama and two cubs playing up the mountain when we camp down to Fontana. Too far off for a good picture but it we could see them well enough to enjoy it.

[earlyriser26]

The only time we were concerned was the second encounter. Two cubs in the trail and one went east, the other west. We had to walk between them. I did not see the mother, but I am sure she saw us.

[garlic08]

One morning hiking in that area, I saw a sow and three cubs. It was the first time I'd seen that many cubs, and I figured it would be the last. A few hours later, I again saw a sow and three cubs! Then I saw a single bear, making a total of nine for the day. I mentioned that to a ranger who told me the bear population per acre in the park, and it was pretty high, but I forgot it.

[Chaos_Being]

I saw one south of Lewis Mt about a month ago- my first one. It was maybe 50-100ft away in some underbrush. I heard a twig snap, and spotted it turned away from me. I had enough time to point and tell my two companions "there's a bear," before it looked up at me briefly and tore off in the opposite direction.

I also heard something big move on a hill above us that dislodged some rocks on the same hike- I'm thinking that it may have been another bear, but the brush was so dense that there was no way to be sure.

[Blissful]

I drove the drive today to Blackrock and saw a mom and two bear cubs run across the road. So I take back what I said...

[Shiraz-mataz]

I stayed at Blackrock Hut on Friday, May 28 and had my best bear encounter ever! There were about six or seven hikers sitting around the shelter chatting around sunset when my buddy said, "Hey man, look behind you!" I turned around and a huge bear was standing right next to the bear-bag pole about 15 feet away. He'd look at us, then look up at the bags, then look back at us as though hoping we'd help him out with our opposable thumbs. Everyone reached for their cameras and took pictures for the next few minutes. Eventually we chased him off but the bear stayed close, walking around just outside the camping area. During the night we heard him come back and shake the pole but no bags were lost. I didn't have a camera with me so if any of you were there that night I'd appreciate a picture!

[crazyonelost]

I think I saw a bear cub on the Laurel Highland Trail/Pa about 2 weeks ago just before the 7 mile marker. Not totally sure,since it was pretty early in the morning and raining,it had some cinamon coloring to it. But I never seen a cub before so I not sure what size they are when they are cubs. I seen about 3-4 bears in my whole life on trails between Wv and Pa. Awesome experience and boy they move fast

[Pony]

I never saw a one in SNP, and got really sick of all the people in cars telling me how many bears they had seen.