Da Bears

Driving through Cades Cove proved to be quite the adventure! While driving the loop, we came up to a whole bunch of stopped cars and people walking around. As we got closer to the action, we realized everyone was looking at two baby bears and a mama bear! The two baby bears were in a tree OVERHANGING the road! They looked like they could fall out at any time and fall right onto the people below them! There are a lot of not smart people in the world...Needless to say, we took pictures from the car and did not stop. I take mama bears very seriously.



And then we went off roading down Parsons Branch Road which is a one way (well that's the intention anyways) gravel road through the western side of the park. We were a mile or two into the road when we saw 2 cars coming toward us! Luckily we were at a part of the road where there was a little bit of room on the side of the road versus a shear cliff, so we could pull over a bit. Apparently two not smart people didn't understand the concept of a one way gravel road that is 8 miles long. They got about 3 miles down the road and decided they'd had enough and turned around. Morons. Anyways, we took the nice scenic drive through the mountains, across a few streams in the road, the whole time keeping our eyes peeled for bears. We were almost to the end of the road when Adam (who was driving), spotted a bear in the stream below the car. We stopped and took some pictures. The bear was flipping rocks in the stream looking for bugs or crawldads. Once the bear noticed us, we decided it was time to move on. Sarah and I have not forgotten the bear that chased us up the mountain which was 10 years ago this week.