Thursday, May 14, 2026
We had considered taking the hop-on, hop-off Gray Line Trolley Tour in Asheville, but decided against it. Those tours can be a great way to get an overview of a city, but Asheville isn’t exactly huge, and we felt like we had already seen enough of it on our own.
Instead, we planned a morning at the North Carolina Arboretum, with a quick detour into Pisgah National Forest to see Looking Glass Falls. But first, breakfast.
We stopped at a place called Flour, known for its Southern biscuits. As I enjoyed every single bite of my breakfast biscuit sandwich, I found myself wondering: if I lived here, would I ever get tired of Southern food? Could I resist places like this — and Hot Fish — a few times a week? More importantly, how much weight would I gain?
After breakfast, we headed toward Pisgah National Forest. Looking Glass Falls was an easy stop, and we spent about half an hour there taking pictures and enjoying the scenery before continuing on to the North Carolina Arboretum.
We arrived around 9:00 AM, which meant the grounds were open, but the visitor center and gift shops were not. It was a chilly, somewhat windy morning as we started wandering through the gardens. At one point, a woman with a large dog stopped to chat with us and casually mentioned that she had just seen a bear behind the education center. I wasn’t sure if she was warning us or simply making conversation.
After checking out the bonsai exhibit and exploring a few of the trails, we decided to follow a loop that would eventually bring us back to the visitor center. We were enjoying the quiet of the trail when I noticed movement up ahead. At first, I thought they were dogs. There were plenty of people walking dogs that morning, so it seemed reasonable — until those “dogs” ran up a tree.
Then I saw it: a massive black bear paw and arm on the ground below them.
We stopped dead in our tracks. Our hearts were pounding, and we both immediately started backing away. It was clear the cubs had seen us, which is why they scrambled up the tree, but the mother bear didn’t seem to be paying much attention to us. That was fine with me. I had no interest in becoming one of those tourists who puts himself in danger for an Instagram photo.
Once we were far enough back, I snapped a couple of quick photos and watched as the cubs came down from the tree before all of them disappeared into the woods.
After making it safely back to the visitor center, we checked out the gift shop and bought a magnet with a bear on it to commemorate our unexpected wildlife encounter at the North Carolina Arboretum.
If I am ever in the Asheville area again, the arboretum would absolutely be a must-do stop for me.
Recent Comments