Mortons On The Move
  • ON THE MOVE
    • About Us
    • Our Home on Wheels
    • How, Why, & Where?
    • RVing Resources
  • Travel Blog
    • Travel Archive
    • Tom's Tech Stuff
    • Campground Reviews
    • Newsletters
    • Gallery
  • Videos
    • YouTube Channel
    • Road Gear Reviews
    • MOTM Video Blog
  • Work With Us
  • SHOP

THE Travel BLOG

Who knows, maybe we will turn our adventure into a book someday. At the very least, we want to record our travels and share them with you! Enjoy, and please feel free to comment and ask questions!

Just joining us? Want to start from the beginning? Want to easily find a past post?
-> Then check out the Travel Archive for a chronological list of all the blogs to date.


Up Close with Bears at The Great Smoky Mountains

7/20/2016

0 Comments

 
Travel Stage: After Asheville, before Nashville
Date Range: May 12 – May 17, 2016
Summary: We cross the Blue Ridge Mountains over to East Tennessee. We stop at Bush’s Beans Visitor Center and visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park – and see some bears!! ​
​We took I40 across the mountains to Tennessee and ended up on road 411 to our next campground in Seiverville. We came around a bend in the road and there was the Bush’s Beans Factory and Visitor Center!
Bush's Best Baked Beans Visitor Center Duke Golden Retriever Jay
Bush's Best Baked Beans Visitor Center Duke Golden Retriever Jay
​This is a fun, free place if you’re ever in the neighborhood. We enjoyed the museum, gift shop, and getting our photo with Duke the Golden Retriever mascot. He may or may not have told me the secret family recipe…
Bush's Best Baked Beans Visitor Center Duke Golden Retriever Picture with, family recipe

East Tennessee

​This was not our first time to this area of Tennessee, but it was our first time being able to explore. We had come to Knoxville to buy our current fifthwheel from RVs for Less, one of the biggest Mobile Suites dealers in the country. 
​It is a special area: it is rural, yet has a mini-Vegas in the form of Dollywood (in honor of Dolly Parton) in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg that has shopping, theme parks, amusement, theater, bars & restaurants, and more. It also has the Oakland National Laboratory and American Science Museum (next blog post) where the first atomic bomb was made, thanks to the secluded yet well-powered location courtesy of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The beautiful and natural Great Smoky Mountains National Park line the whole area, and the quiet park town of Townsend balances out the flashy fun over the hill in Gatlinburg. Townsend was where we made our entrance into the Great Smoky Mountains.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

​We only had one day for the Smokies, but it was a really good day. It started out with a free wine tasting at the cutest little winery near the entrance of the National Park called Cade's Cove Cellars. It was so fitting because that was exactly where we were heading that day. 
Cade's Cove Cellars Townsend Tennessee wine sign tasting
We grabbed some lunch at the Apple Valley Cafe next door. Yum!

Cade's Cove

​Cade’s Cove is a several-mile one-way paved drive through the park around the inside of a cove. Mountains encircle the cove, so every turn has a great view of mountains, trees, and meadow. There are pull offs and some parking lots to see some of the attractions: old houses, cemeteries, and other historical sites. Hiking trails lead from the road off to some waterfalls or streams.
We started the drive with the intent to pull off at some random hiking spot and just enjoy ourselves. The stream of cars in front of us set the pace, and we slowly started to make our way around the circuit. Occasionally we’d have to stop for each car to take its turn gawking at something or taking a picture, which we were guilty of doing, too.
​We finally decided that we could pull off to get some pretty pictures in the blooming meadow with the mountains behind us. We parked at the next pull-off, which was just big enough for our massive truck. There was a foot trail leading uphill into the trees, so we figured we’d get our hike in too after our photo shoot. ​We hopped the fence and took some pictures in the meadow. ​
Great Smoky Mountains National Park meadow Cade's Cove
Then we noticed some beautiful butterflies among the flowers. Tom started photographing them, while I made my way back to the truck to grab the other video camera. I had to cross the road, which had gotten congested with cars stuck behind a hay wagon going slow. As I turned to come back across the road, I see a guy in another car pointing up into the trees. I turned around and not 50 yards from the road up the very trail we were going to hike in a few minutes was a black bear. ​
Great Smoky Mountains national park black bears path trees mother and cub
​Then her baby appeared behind her! With video camera in hand, and our truck parked in the perfect spot, we had an amazing view for one of the most incredible experiences:
The Takeaways
  1. We had no idea bears could climb like that! Or that they liked to eat the tops of young trees. Turns out, their shorter curved and sharp claws evolved for climbing trees which they do to escape  predators, find food, sleep and rest. They also target many plants in the spring when young shoots are most digestible and nutritious.
  2. Don’t be that person to go stand underneath a bear in a tree. I believe that is why she came down, and it could have been dangerous especially with the baby bear who-knows-where in the woods. I know it is tempting, but please don’t ever be that stupid just to get a photo. Plus, it is ILLEGAL to approach within 50 yards of a bear. (Since she approached us initially, I think we are in the clear. ;) )
  3. The Great Smoky Mountains are FULL of black bears. We saw 2 more before we left. Be on your guard when hiking around, and carry bear spray just in case. 
Great Smoky Mountains national park black bears path trees mother and cub
Great Smoky Mountains national park black bears path trees mother and cub filming documentary video
Great Smoky Mountains national park black bears path trees mother and cub traffic backup
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States where black bears can live in wild, natural surroundings.

Bears inhabit all elevations of the park. Though populations are variable, biologists estimate that roughly 1,500 bears live in the park which is approximately two bears per square mile. At one time, the black bear's range included most of North America except the extreme west coast. However loss of habitat has resulted in a significant reduction in this range.
As an added bonus, we saw some other wildlife on our auto-tour as well:
Great Smoky Mountains national park wildlife coyote
To wrap up our Great Smoky Mountains visit, we took a drive along the western ridge for some spectacular vistas of the smoky, blue mountains.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Blue like smoke sign shaconage air pollution haze
Great Smoky Mountains National Park skyline drive view over tennessee
Great Smoky Mountains National Park skyline drive overlook
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Alabama
    Arizona
    Boondockers Welcome
    Boondocking
    California
    Campground Review
    D.C.
    Dogs
    Florida
    Georgia
    Harvest Hosts
    Horses
    Idaho
    Indiana
    Kentucky
    Michigan
    Minnesota
    Montana
    National Park
    North Carolina
    North Dakota
    Ohio
    On The Move
    Oregon
    Out West
    Planes
    Preparation
    RVing
    South Carolina
    Tennessee
    Travel Tips
    Virginia
    Washington
    West Virginia
    Wild Camping
    Wisconsin
    Wyoming

    Archives

    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    RSS Feed

Want to meet? Have a question? Feel free to contact us at mortonsonthemove@gmail.com!

✕