Aggressive black bear closes popular Cades Cove Hiking Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains national park has had a black bear problem for weeks in the back end of Cades Cove at the Abrams Falls Hiking Trail and has finally been forced to close the trail for visitor and the bear's safety.

The closure of the Abrams Falls Hiking Trail starts on the dirt road before the parking lot area so the Rabbit Creek hiking trail in Cades Cove is also affected.

There are other hiking trails with black bear problems in the Great Smoky Mountains national park which have warnings issued on them include: the Little River hiking trail, The lower portion of Trillium Gap trail near Grotto falls and the lower portion of Crooked Arm Ridge trail.

Great Smoky Mountains national park Black Bear Information

Great Smoky Mountains national park closes 2 backcountry campsites.

2 Backcountry campsites were just closed in the Great Smoky Mountains national park, the first being backcountry campsite #15 on the Rabbit Creek Trail connecting Cades Cove with Abrams Creek and the other backcountry campsite #53 in around the Thomas Divide trail intersection with the Newton Bald Trail accessible off Newfound Gap Road in North Carolina.

Both backcountry campsite 15 also know as the Rabbit Creek campsite (pictured below) and backcountry campsite 53 known as Poke Patch campsite were closed due to aggressive black bear activity and will remain closed until further notice. This can be a few days, weeks or even longer.

When a campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains is closed due to black bear it is monitored closely by park staff to see if bear are continuing to be a potential threat in the area. If you see a tent in a closed campsite leave it alone as it may be a decoy set up by the park service but you can tell park staff of your finding just in case it is a camper who does not know of or is unwilling to head the warning.