Day in the Smoky Mountains

Last year in May we had visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and were in awe of its beauty and wildlife, so decided to visit it again this trip.  A special place on our first visit was Cade's Cove Loop Road where we had seen many bears and deer.  We decided to make this our first stop, but were fairly late starting the day so didn't get there until early afternoon.  We were so disappointed not to see one single bear and just a few microscopic deer in the distance.  We had seen more in our back garden in New Hampshire!  A hike in the high mountains was also on the agenda, but David wasn't feeling too great so we decided on a short hike at the earliest possible place after the loop road.  We walked along a pleasant enough trail, but it was nothing spectacular so that after ten minutes or so we headed back.  Suddenly David called out, "Bear!"  As usual I thought he was kidding until I saw a black shape above us.  I had read that black bears don't usually attack unless they are mothers with babies.  I told David not to move or speak and we just watched it.  It turned out to be a mother bear with two cubs!  Although the family had spotted us they did nothing aggressive and just seemed to want to be on their way as quickly as possible.  The cubs soon followed mum, speeding up when they saw us.  I must admit that I was a little scared, but also thrilled.  It was even better seeing them like that than driving by in a car.  (Lynda)