A bear adventure of another sort

For many weeks now, we have been planning on a long weekend:  first to Knoxville to have lunch with our friend John, then down to the North River Campground in the Cherokee National Forest for four days of camping near Tellico Plains, TN.  The lunch with John was great; the camping turned out to be very poorly timed.  

We accidentally chose the first day of "party" bear hunting season and the key campground used by the 70+ bear hunters in that area, plus their throngs of dogs.  We were able to get a lovely site next to the river, but hiking was not possible, for our own safety.   According to the ranger we consulted, that section of the national forest was divided into four sectors, with "parties" of up to 75 hunters in each section. Each hunter had several dogs, which they let out at the top of the mountain to find and chase down whatever bears they could find. When the dogs cornered a bear, they would start baying, and the hunters then would come to shoot the bear.  In order to find a place to hike, we had to drive a long ways on a gravel road to the Citico Wilderness, which is a bear refuge.  Even there, we could hear the dogs in the distance, getting closer, and it made us nervous.  Dogs don't read "Bear Refuge" signs.  

We were able to drive the beautiful Cherahola Skyway and see lovely views of the trees starting to show their fall colors.  We also spent some time at the outstanding Bald River Falls.  I had wanted to go there for a long time--ever since Dennis, the guy I worked with at the Literacy Council, told me about them.  

Turn up your sound for the video below.  It is the sound of our campground when all the dogs there would get riled by a car coming in. The picture isn't important.

Note:  You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

Bald River Falls See person in red for scale.

Alan and I at Bald River Falls

Butterfly on clover on the Flat Mountain Trail--Citico Wilderness

Maple tree already showing fall colors