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Bears at Cade's Cove

We were hiking with a group in the Smoky Mountain National Park last Wednesday, looking for wildflowers.  Some of the people with us were telling about seeing lots of bears in Cade's Cove.  So on Thursday, with my lil' ole sister and her hub, we headed down that way.


Although we looked diligently and patiently, we only saw one bear all day.  He was a fine looking feller.





He was in a meadow under a black walnut tree.  We could hear him crunching on something; we are guessing that he was eating walnuts left from last fall.  He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.












We found a place with lots of people stopped by the side of the road past the Cade's Cove village.  We were told there was a mother and three cubs in a den near a downed tree.  We waited for a while, but they never came out and we had places to go and promises to keep, so we didn't get to see them.  The rangers told us it was a good year for bears; that numerous ones had been spotted in the park. I'm sorry we missed the cubs, but glad we got to observe this bear having his morning snack.

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