‘Aggressive’ bear pokes hiker with its nose in Great Smoky Mountains, park says

Aggressive bears are known to stalk, claw and even bite tourists in Great Smoky National Park, but rangers say one recent encounter involved a bear poking a hiker with its big wet nose.

The intimidating incident is one of several dangerous bear encounters reported over the past four weeks on the Ramsey Cascades Trail, which is now closed for public safety.

Hikers began reporting the unusual bear encounters in mid-April, the park says.

“Over the weekend of April 18, the park received reports of four incidents involving serious human/animal interactions,” the NPS told The Charlotte Observer.

“In one instance, a bear approached a visitor, touched its nose to the visitor, and took the visitor’s backpack. The bear chased other groups of visitors. Based on these reports, the park temporarily closed the trail.”

The park reopened the trail several days later, after foot patrols and wildlife cameras found no evidence of bear activity. But then, on May 10, the incidents began happening again, the park said.

“Multiple hiking groups reported encounters in which a bear stalked or chased them; in one instance, a group deployed bear spray,” park officials said.

“The park’s wildlife team remains actively engaged in monitoring the area and will continue assessing conditions to determine when it is safe to reopen the trail.”

The Ramsey Cascades Trail is a popular 8-mile “roundtrip” that leads to the tallest waterfall in the park, the 105-foot Ramsey Cascades, the park says.

“The trail begins on an old roadbed and passes through a cove hardwood forest but becomes narrower and rockier as it ascends more than 2,000 feet (610 m) in elevation and crosses multiple foot-log bridges and streams along the way,” the NPS says.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park covers 522,427 acres and is home to an estimated 1,900 American black bears, the NPS says. The predators can reach 600 pounds, but the average size for males in the park is about 250 pounds, experts say. They can run up to 30 mph, officials say.

The park is split by the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee, and the Ramsey Cascades Trail is on the Tennessee side.

This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 8:24 AM with the headline "‘Aggressive’ bear pokes hiker with its nose in Great Smoky Mountains, park says."