Bears chase, bite visitors at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

U.S. Bears chase, bite visitors at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, prompting closures By Emily Mae Czachor Emily Mae Czachor News Editor Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social justice. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek. Read Full Bio Emily Mae Czachor Updated on: April 21, 2026 / 9:15 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are closed to the public after visitors encountered aggressive bears in two areas over the weekend, the National Park Service said. In some cases, bears chased and bit people.Rangers responded to three incidents involving bears along Ramsey Cascades Trail, a popular hike to a waterfall, and three more on Abrams Falls Trail, which is another waterfall hike, according to the park service. In the encounters near Ramsey Cascades, two bears "approached visitors and took two backpacks," while a third "displayed aggressive behavior and briefly chased a group," the park service said. Ramsey Cascades Trail and Ramsey Prong Road, which leads to the trailhead, remained closed Monday as rangers continued to monitor the area for bear activity.The other trio of incidents near Abrams Falls involved "an aggressive black bear," which in one instance bit a visitor who had entered a closed area, the park service said. Both the trail and road leading to it had been closed, but they were reopened by Monday after several days without bear activity.About 1,900 black bears live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a massive wildlife area that covers sections of North Carolina and Tennessee. It's also the most-visited national park in the U.S., according to the park service, which notes that the "combination of high visitation and a thriving bear population increases the likelihood of human-bear encounters."The park service says black bear activity inc...