The Smokey mountains is known for its black bears! Typically these are small bears that look so adorable and unless they have babies in the area, they will go in the other direction away from you. This is of course noting that they are not used to being fed by humans. While we were in the Smokey mountains we had three bear encounters.
Bear in the ” wilderness”:
One of the little bears we saw was a wild bear chilling out in the “wilderness” I quote wilderness, because it actually wasn’t that far from the condo we were staying in. We were driving out of Gatlinburg and looking at the trails that weave along beside the road. There were people walking, lots of people and then there was a gap. And in that gap of people there was a little bear on the trail. The people were probably 30 to 50 feet away from it! We were driving in the car of course but it was totally crazy to see a bear that close to the trail! I have a feeling it was used to being fed even though there are don’t feed the bears signs up.
The Pizza Loving Bears!
We were at the top of the Anakeesta sky lifts waiting in line to catch a chondola back down the mountain. We were the second in line and in front of us was a couple with their two huge service dogs. Well people on the lifts started taking pictures of the ground right before getting off. The landing is about 4 to five feet off the ground so those of us in the landing didn’t see anything but apparently it was a baby bear. I call this the pizza bear because a box of pizza had been sent up in one of the open lifts for the workers on the top of the mountain. When the box was opened the bears could smell the pizza and started climbing up the mountain. They took the box inside but someone was still eating a slice and the little bear just kept coming until it was right below the landing. The worker told the other one to “get rid of this thing” and sent his half eaten slice of pizza away. The little bear would have kept coming on up except for one of the huge service dogs began to bark. I guess if your master is being approached by something as strange as a bear it doesn’t matter a dog’s training. It protects. We never saw the bear because it went away before we got on the chondola in time to see it. It made for a thrilling little experience though.
The Three Bears General Store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Feeding the bears at the three Bears store was by far our very best bear encounter. They have a huge habitat there with balconies to look over and then a more aquarium like setting beneath, all for bear viewing. There was one bear who loved to encourage people to feed him by sitting up on his back paws and nodding his head at you. There were PVC pipes in the rocks that you could pour the food down and this bear loved it! We got great bear photos here. There was even a walk in bear cave for better viewing! This store was absolutely great because not only did you get to feed the bears but there was also tons of treats to sample around the store. There was local fudge, ice cream, and even a place where you could try dips and juices. Definitely a place you should check out if you are ever in the area!Happy Vacationing,Brie
