While in Tennessee we took a day to explore Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The Hubby strapped my Owlie boy on his back and our Uncle Brinton {in the far distance} carried 2 year old Mason on his shoulders. Nothing like great Dads to make a family hike possible!
I was only mildly concerned by the bear warning signs at the start of the trail up to Laurel Falls. If you see a bear, stand your ground, don’t charge it, don’t feed it, yadda, yadda, yadda.
I was more worried by the “sheer cliff drop off” signs that encouraged you to control your small children lest they fall to their deaths.
At some point I stopped paying attention to the bear signs altogether. Instead, my trusty camera Edward and I enjoyed the beauty all around us.
Truly, it was quite a gorgeous day and the hike was just what our bodies needed after the turkey coma from Thanksgiving day. We spent considerable time at the actual waterfall and then made our way back down the mountain.
Imagine my surprise when, upon our descent, we were stopped dead in our tracks by a medium sized bear cub meandering his way down the slope above and directly across our trail path about twenty feet in front of us!
My kids were completely enthralled. Meanwhile, I had every bear mauling story I’ve ever heard replaying in my head. Should we lay down and pretend we were dead? Should we shout at the bear? Should we name it Sally and take it home as a pet? I couldn’t remember a single bear fact aside from “Don’t’ feed the bears.” I mentally commended myself for leaving the snacks in the car.
I snapped a quick photo {yep, it’s a total bum shot} and then before a momma bear could find her baby, we made a quick exit down the trail and off the mountain.
Whew! Sharing close proximity with wild and ferocious nature is stressful! But my kids can’t stop talking about seeing a bear up close in the mountains of Tennessee. It made their trip.
Okay, I’m done talking about Thanksgiving and my near death experience. Thanks for bearing with me. Hardy har har.
4 comments:
I glad you didn't bring that little bear home with you.
Growing up, we lived in the mountains of Washington State and my mom always worried about me jogging by myself. She made me bring the dog, rationalizing that a mountain lion or bear would eat the dog first while I made a run for it. :) Glad you didn't run into a mama bear! All I ever remember about bear maulings is to play dead and cover the back of your neck with your hands.
When two Summers ago I went hiking at Yosemite I was afraid of runing into a bear but at the same time, I wanted to see one in real life. It was quite contradictory.
Not after 2 minutes we started our hike, we listened to some kind of noise coming from the bushes and trees at the side of our path. I was scared, but fortunately it was only a beatiful deer.
I've seen bears, moose, deer, snakes, raccoons, and tree frogs on hikes. Like you, my reaction was this: bears are scary.
Love the nature shots.
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