We’re on Vacation in Tennessee, in a cabin up a mountain in between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Pigeon Forge is not the most attractive town I’ve ever visited and has more ways to part you from your cash than I’ve seen in a very long time, Gatlinburg is similar but has a nicer feel to it.
Thankfully the setting is idyllic and we are just a couple of miles from the National Park so yesterday we visited Cades Cove which is a very picturesque valley nestled in between the mountains.
Within minutes of stopping to view an old house we saw a female black bear foraging in the undergrowth. She was much smaller than I imagined, I’m guessing she was about 100lbs and maybe would have stood about 4ft if she was upright.
She didn’t approach us but did come quite close at one point, she just carried on eating whatever she was eating and then walked right past all the tourists with cameras.
Once back in the car we saw people gathering further down the road and slowed down to see a mother bear with a cub. We decided not to get out incase the mother bear got defensive, so I don’t have any cub pictures.
Our first glimpse of the bear.
