Reflections Of The Smokies
The Berries are getting ripe along the AT here in our Smokies
and that means Bears! Our Wildlife Rangers have done a great job with “bear
control” this season and we haven’t had to close any shelters. I hope that the
bears will stay in the black berries and the backpackers will keep their food
and trash away from the bears. If we can do that everyone will get along just
fine!
and that means Bears! Our Wildlife Rangers have done a great job with “bear
control” this season and we haven’t had to close any shelters. I hope that the
bears will stay in the black berries and the backpackers will keep their food
and trash away from the bears. If we can do that everyone will get along just
fine!
Bear Trap Next To A Shelter On The AT
Here's What I have been up to this week!
Day One: Newfound Gap to Double Springs Gap. Despite
the heavy rains the trail looks really good. With the weather we have had I
expect to see a lot of mud and briars in the trail. But the trail looks nice.
There was fresh hog rooting around Double Springs Gap shelter. There was a
report of bear activity yesterday but I didn't see any today!
Day Two: Double Springs Gap to Derrick Knob Shelter.
There is a beautiful black berry patch between Double Springs Gap and Silers
Bald. I there was a big ole happy bear working the berries as I passed. There
were reports of bears around Silers bald earlier in the week. I spoke to
backpackers that stayed at Silers Bald Shelter last night and they had no bear
problems. There was a lot of food trash out at Derrick Knob Shelter. I had a
good opportunity to educate backpackers about how we cause the bear problems by
our carelessness with our food and trash.
Day Three: Derrick Knob to Double Springs Gap Shelter.
It was a beautiful hike back to double Springs. Again I passed hikers that
stayed at Silers and Double Springs with no bear reports. I did pick up a few
pounds of trash left around Silers Bald. This evening at Double Springs we had
a visit from the 275 pound bear that I had seen in the black berries. He came
within about 30 feet of the shelter. Six backpackers and I yelled and ran him
off. We didn't see him again.
Day Four: Double Springs Gap to Mt. Collins Shelter. No
bear problems overnight or this morning. I had a good opportunity this morning
to educate backpackers about how throwing fruit peelings and apple cores off the
trail is bad for bears. It was really nice to see all the mowing and briars
that have been cut back. Great Job Volunteers! I encountered a group of Scouts
that had stayed at Mt. Collins. They left it super clean! I enjoyed the summer
visit of some Scarlet Tanagers around the shelter. They were very social and
didn't seem to mind my cutting back briars out of the grass.
Day Five: Mt. Collins Shelter to Newfound Gap. I always
love this early morning hike. There has been some beautiful trail work done on
this stretch. A lot of briars have been cut back. A couple of small blowdowns
have been recently removed. When I hear the cars passing along the Clingmans
Dome road I reflect on how blessed we are to be able to get out on the AT here
in our Smokies and spend some time away from the busy pace of town.
Scarlet Tanagers In The Mt. Collins Shelter
Comments
Ken Taylor
08/01/2011 9:36pm
Souns like you've had a busy week, enjoy the updates, keep up the good work, bet your ready to put your legs up on your days off, enjoy :)
Susan McAdoo
08/05/2011 2:41pm
Wanted to say thanks for your updates and
remarks. I so enjoyed your photos and winter blog when you were on Le Conte....
hard for anyone to come up to those standards. Continue the good work and
know that your time and effort is much appreciated. It does make me sad to know that there are people that do not respect these beautiful mountains enough to keep out the garbage....they probably throw stuff out of their car windows too.
