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Your Personal Safety and Preventing Crime in National Forests
This subject is a little touchy, but you must be aware of some things when entering any National Forest, National Park, BLM Site, etc. There are threats to your personal safety and security in these places. Threats come from several sources - terrain, weather, animals, reptiles, insects, and yes, other people. Just because these areas are beautiful recreation areas does not mean that you can completely let your guard down. Have fun, but be careful!
We highly recommend this link to a brochure entitled Preventing Crime in Our National Forests and Grasslands that is published by the US Department of Agriculture. It is in .pdf format - you can download and read or print it. It is generic information, but well written and informative. We will address several specific questions you may have below.
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Questions you may have about visiting the Pisgah National Forest.
Yes - there are snakes here, and yes - there are black bears here. Should you be concerned? Not particularly. Should you be aware? Yes.
About the snakes. The Pisgah National Forest has two venomous snakes that are native to the area - the Timber rattlesnake, and the Copperhead. In our six years here we have seen numerous rattlesnakes, but never a live Copperhead. All of the rattlesnakes we have seen have been very docile. They prefer to lay motionless, sunning themselves, and seem to believe that if they do not move you will not see them and you will pass by without incident. We have heard of cases where they have rattled a warning at visitors, so we know that they can be riled up. We are aware of two cases of snake bites - a rattlesnake bit a person who had picked it up, and a copperhead bit a fellow that stepped on it in the dark while barefoot. Sounds a lot like if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone - doesn't it? Our bottom line recommendation is to keep your eyes open as you hike - look where you are walking and before you step over logs. If you see a snake, do not attempt to handle it, and please do not kill it - simply wait for it to pass by, or walk well around it. And take a picture!
About the bears. I our six years here we have seen three bears, and we had one snort at us from the bushes near a creek. One we saw was a large bear on highway 276 about 10:30 at night. The other two were cubs we saw while out cleaning up debris in an abandoned campsite. The cubs were cute little guys. We did not see their mom - and we were looking for her! The snort came from vegitation between us and a creek we were hiking next to. It was clearly a warning sound. We were a bit tired and were hiking quietly along - not making noise. We guess we got too close before the bear heard or saw us, and it let us know it was there. The standard recommendation about bears is to make some noise as you hike. The goal is to NOT surprise a bear. They will usually retire from people if they know you are coming. For more bear safety information click here.
Here is a great link to Safety Information published by the USDA Forest Service Southern Region.
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