I recently visited the Tremont section of the Smoky Mountains, in Tennessee, featuring Lynn Camp Falls. It’s an easy hike of approximately one mile out and back, during which time I saw two horses and had a conversation with a bear.


The upper portion stands 20-feet tall, consisting of two levels, sending water crashing into the broad side of a gigantic slab of rock. Water is forced to the side, then sent 35-feet down the lower falls.
Conversation with a Bear
Well, actually a bear cub (probably a 2nd-year cub, noticeably larger than the three climbing bears I’d seen previously), and I did all the talking, haha. I was driving slowly on a gravel road with my window open soon before sunrise, when I saw a black bear cub on the edge of the road. I stopped 8-feet away, and began talking to the bear in a friendly tone – as if to a child, or unfamiliar dog with questions. The bear stepped back only 4-feet, putting a minor branch between us, and remained in place for approx. 15-seconds…not long, but enough time to make a memory.
The area is one of the gems in the Smoky Mountains!
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