Cades Cove
After entering the park near Townsend, we turned right onto Laurel Creek Road following the West Prong Little River upstream toward Cades Cove. Several miles up the road a large van had stopped on Laurel Creek Road. Suspecting that someone had spotted a bear, we stopped at the next paved pulloff and walked back down the shoulder to see what we could see. While I almost always have a tripod in the vehicle, I usually don't use it when viewing wildlife as I might need to be fairly nimble in making a hasty retreat. Unfortunately, that means that any video is rather bouncy especially if I'm using much of the zooming capabilities of the camera. Thus the following video should not be viewed full screen. I muted the sound so you don't hear all the vehicle traffic.
Upon reaching the cove, we saw several deer.
Roaring Fork
Even though the spring rains had faded, we decided to hike to Baskins Falls. There are two trails to the falls. Both trails are approximately three miles round trip and start from parking areas on Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. After stopping near the park entrance on Cherokee Orchard Road to take some pictures of LeConte Creek, we drove about three miles and turned right onto Roaring Fork Road. As we pulled off at the sign for Baskins Creek Trail, a couple of hikers walking down the road passed us. While we were adjusting our walking sticks and loading the backpack with water and cameras, one of the hikers ran back up the road to warn us that a bear and a couple of cubs were in the thicket below us and heading for the trail. We decided to wait at the car until the bears had crossed the trail. After a couple of minutes, one bear arrived and started foraging close to the trail. This was either an adult female or a yearling. By this time, several people had shown up and some drivers stopped in the road, blocking traffic completely. About a dozen people, including several children, headed down the trail to get a closer look, oblivious to the danger and illegality of their actions. By this time, we had abandoned the idea of hiking to the falls on this day. We'll make another attempt at some point. Once traffic started moving, we continued around the motor trail.
Continuing along the motor trail, we passed the second trailhead to Baskins Falls after deciding that there were too many bears active in the area to enjoy our hike. Further on, we noticed that the volume of water was greatly diminished from that seen in the early spring at the Place of a Thousand Drips.
The park website is http://www.nps.gov/grsm.
The park website is http://www.nps.gov/grsm.
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