Curry Mountain Trail Bear Encounter

Last night I got a text from Sharon saying that she was going on a hike with Gene and Judi on Curry Mountain Trail and that I was welcome to come along.  Gene and Judi used to have a travel blog as well so I was eager to meet two more people who share my love of travel and hiking.

Before we even got on the trail I saw a few new-to-me wildflowers just walking from the Metcalf Bottoms parking lot to the trailhead.

Hairy Buttercup

Robin's Plaintain

And while we didn't come up with names for everything, Gene and Judi were a wealth of information when it came to helping me identify plants.

Gene consults "Wildflowers of the Smokies"

Rue Anemone

Sweet Shrub

The trail ascended pretty quickly in the first mile but got a little easier after that.  Judi set a pretty good pace on the hike, but stopped often to point things out to both myself and Sharon.

Cabbage White Butterfly on Star Chickweed blossom

Sharon said Judi likely picked this hike because it's the only trail she's seen a bear on.  We told her to keep a look out for us while we watched our feet on the trail.  Good thing we were, because there was some pretty fresh bear scat on that trail and it wouldn't have been nice to step in!

Gene and I brought up the rear most of the time, me because of the camera and Gene because he's dealing with some plantar fascitis issues.  We traded horror stories and remedies...I won't bore you with foot issues this time, we have more interesting things to talk about!

Crested Dwarf Iris in the middle of the trail

Often Gene would drop behind to trim nuisance branches.  I thought bringing a light saw along was pretty neat and might suggest it to Santa for Wayne this year.

I got pretty excited when I spotted the Squaw Root by myself.

It was so warm in the sun on the trail that I told them it felt like Wisconsin in June.  When Judi and Sharon kept surging on ahead I yelled out for them to let us know when they spotted that bear.  

Around the 2.5 mile mark I decided to turn around and head back down. My allergies have been acting up the last few days and the pollen was so high my eyes were starting to burn and itch.  I told my hiking companions that they'd probably see that bear with my luck, but they said I'd be more likely to see a bear hiking alone.

On my way down I kept my camera ready just in case, and kept an eye out for that fresh scat as well.  Not long after I passed it I came around a bend.....

Mama Bear was just as startled to see me as I was to see her!  She grunted and her two cubs each ran up a different tree.  She moved to stand guard under one of the trees and that increased her distance to about 40 feet so I snapped a few photos.

Baby Bear closest to me scampering up the tree

I thought I was noisy on my way down the mountain, snapping twigs, tripping over rocks, crunching through leaves.  Either I'm quieter than I thought or Mama was distracted.

Two cuties for the price of one

I snapped all the shots in about 30 seconds and then gave Mama the room she needed by starting to move slowly down the trail.

Baby Bear #2 keeping an eye on me

As soon as I was a safer distance away I texted Sharon and let her know about my bear encounter.

Baby Bear #1 waiting for the all clear from Mama

That was a lot of excitement and it wasn't even noon yet!  I took another short hike on an old service road near Sugarlands Visitor Center later in the afternoon and met some more wildlife...but I'll save that for next time.