Several pix of one of the cubs bears (couldn't resist using that word) an almost eerie resemblance to a resident at our household. Her name is Bailey and she's a Chow mix.

What wonderful images Bubba. Thanks so much for sharing.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Very nice captures!

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That was great! Thanks for sharing.

They're probably dreaming about black cherries ripening in a few weeks.

Did you know black bears weigh about 8 ounces when they are born. They are born blind, hairless, and nurse immediately after birth. The mother may sleep through the birth and initial cub growth period.

We were up there a couple weeks ago. We saw 9 in the cove and along the road between the wye and the cove. Along with about a gazillion two-legged idiots.

Your pictures are wonderful! We have seen that Mother Bear & her 3 cubs
too! The cubs were up in the tree with the mother at the base when we
saw them! We have had 46 sightings from April 19th - June 19th this year
& hope to go again soon! Great year for Bear Watching! Again, your
pictures are wonderful! Did you see the large male with the scar on his
head?

Chrisie, did not see the male with the scar. We only saw two other adults, one out in the field in the middle of the cove near a fence/tree line, and he was too far away to get a good look. Looked like a pretty good sized one, and I assume a male.

The other crossed the road in front of us on Parsons Branch Rd., and we followed alongside him for a hundred yards or so before he went off into the woods. The woods were too thick and I was too rattled to get a good photo of him, but he looked smaller and may have been a second year. His butt was scruffed up a little, like he'd been scratching a rash on a tree or something.

The mama and cubs were amazing to watch. I've had a few close encounters on trails and in the rivers, but they were thankfully brief. It was really something to get to watch them up (pretty) close for an hour or so. The one cub seemed really active and restless like he was trying to get everyone up and on the go. They all wanted to sleep in, apparently.

A ranger lady hollered and clapped at them every few minutes trying to get them to come down and move on. They just ignored her.

Thanks, Russ. Yes, a 400mm for most of them, a 200mm for the first few. And the close-ups of the cubs are crops. I'm guessing we were 40-50 30 yards away or so. Rangers were keeping people back.

Yeah, these are some really great and beautiful shots, skb. But how did you ever "bear" the traffic? We too were up there a few weeks ago to hike Gregory Bald. It took about an hour to get in to the trailhead near PB road, and another hour to get out! It was dusk when we were exiting and there was a lot of bear activity. We were miserable, not really caring to see any freakin' bears, but every tourist jerk had shown up that day. Darn near ruined the hike to the amazingly beautiful bald. If you want to see the flaming azaleas, this is the time to go, but is a bad time of the year for loop traffic.

I never, ever want to go back to CC, except when the loop is closed to motor vehicles. It was a horrendous, dreadful creep along, where tempers including mine were boiling over. Mark my words: there is going to be some serious gun violence on the loop. You heard it here. [/rant]

Also, don't tell me you drove Parsons Branch!? We intended to, but about half a mile into it, the Volvo couldn't make it up the first big hill. The road was in such poor shape that I thought the sign should forbid anything other than all wheel drive and high ground clearance vehicles. Fortunately we were able to turn around and have some of our family as ground escorts to get us the heck back out. I still have nightmare images of somehow getting over the first hill and then getting our car stuck deeper in. You'd have to hope for a good ol' boy, probably with a dixie tag on the front, to come along and pull you out, and the car could still be a wreck (busted 'ull filter, bent rim, etc.).

FC, actually, the traffic wasn't bad. We got there pretty early on Sunday AM. It picked up a little after the hour of bear watching, but still wasn't bad.

We only drove up Parsons Branch to the cutover and then turned around. We drove the whole thing up to 129 twice in the Prius the first time it reopened last year, and had no problems. Haven't driven it since it re-reopened this year. Sounds like it was good that we decided not to.

Our original plan was to a quick trip up and over Rich Mt. Road, but since the traffic wasn't bad we went on and I'm glad we did because we got to see the mama bear and cubs. And at the risk of another thread hijack, we saw nor heard not one single motorcycle with loud pipes. I guess (hope) they have all migrated over to "the dragon."

Cades Cove loop is closed to vehicular traffic except for bikes on Wed. and Sat. AM.

Randy,

These pics were wonderful. Thanks so much for posting them.

The spouse came home tonight in a bad mood and I showed him the pictures to cheer him up. It worked.

A work colleague also said he drove PB road in a regular car after one of the re-openings without any problems. The recent rains sure have not helped.

We were late getting up there, maybe 11 a.m.-ish, so traffic was worse on the loop and I thought we could exit without issue, which was maybe 7:15 p.m., except lots of bears were out and the human "morans" just stop their motor vehicles in the middle of the road and get out to take pictures, flash ones at that, for as long as they want or till the bear(s) is/are long gone. And of course they have to do the same for deer! An hour to get half way around the loop, ~5.5 miles! And if there's one diesel in the line, as there usually is, you're really screwed. I hate diesels. If people would just pull the crap over. And there too rarely are any rangers around to try and get things moving.

Glad you've been lucky and had such a great day. It's been awhile since we've done the Wed. or Sat. bike things; they really need more closed times and a real solution to the loop traffic. Nobody can make a decision, of course, because every citizen has to be heard and entitlement to unfettered access can't be infringed upon, etc. etc. I would like to ride the loop on a normal such day with any of our U.S congress people to see how they fare the experience. I'm sure they only go if the road's blocked off for them or maybe they would fly in on a helicopter. They have no idea how bad it is.

They are some amazing photos, yes. Thanks for postin' 'em.

I find the loop to be pretty tolerable on late winter weeknights when the days are starting to get long. No bears, though.

I've had dozens of bear sightings on the trails, last year for the first time I heard a bear warning her cub of my approach. Sort of a melodious gurgle with overtones of panic.

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There MUST be a pony in here somewhere!