I saw BEARS y'all!

[cinnamon]

Been in the Smokies hiking this past week. First time doing a trip like this. We did 26 miles in 3.125 days.

There was a small bear near the trail on our second full-day hike and we scared it off by yelling and setting off this alarm I had. That afternoon we're walking to the campsite off the Appalachian Trail and there's a DAMN BIG ASS BLACK BEAR near the trail leading to the campsite. We wait for it to move a bit and it stuck around foraging for a couple hours. One guy had to start cracking wood on a tree stump at 10pm after dark to get it to fuck off. This is after we hear that a guy got mauled while asleep in his tent by a bear 5 miles up the trail.

Supa scary ya'll. I could have died.

I never want to see a polarchuck again.

[Sci_Girl]

You don't want to see a real "polarchuck" lol...think at least 2-3 times as big as the black bear.


Black bears are hella dangerous though. They seem to be the most unpredictable ones out there so really watch your back. Next time carry some bear bells, a big stick, or mace if it is legal to carry. Make noise when out on those trails, even a "yo bear hey bear" every once and awhile. Generally they are more scared of you than you are of it, but maulings still happen.

[Mama Bear]

I like bears; they're my favourite animals. I saw this doco once about a guy who raised a bear from a cub, and it was his best friend. I hated that guy, because he had a bear and I didn't.

[Banannie]

Bears are really cute. I always bring a dog with me when hiking so it can either chase the bear away or feed it.

[Maison]

Did you take pics for Instagram xDDDD

[cinnamon]

They are such pretty bears, but I felt like taking pics would be like asking for a karma death by bear attack.

We had bear spray, but they never got aggressive.

One guy was deaf and didn't hear us yelling at him about the bear until he was like 10 feet from it. YIKES.

[Bowser]

came into this thread thinking of a completely different sort of bear, but seeing living actual bears in the woods and stuff sounds really neat but also really scary??
i would've gotten out of there as fast as possible myself at the first sight of anything resembling one of those animals... lmao... the claws on those things
just yeah neat but scary @(you need an account to see links)