For the past few years I have been attending MOTD every Spring in the mountains of North Carolina with a few hundred of my closest MINI friends.
So this year I decided that I should travel up to the Dragon with LadyGodiva that had never been there before.
The main purpose of this trip would be to scout out locations for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at next years MOTD event.
Well to make a long story short, after stopping in Bryson City for lunch at The Filling Station we (daughter and I and LadyGodiva in her Chocolate Clubman)
headed out for Fontana Village and then on to the Dragon.
The Dragon had its usual crowd of motorcycles running around all over the place and we joined in on the fun of running the 11 miles of twists and turns
that equal out to 318 turns.
Right around 9 miles into the Dragon while in the middle of a left handed sweeping turn we were hit by a black bear running accross the road from the left
without a moment or chance take any real evasive action.

Never in all the times (at least 10 times) that I have been up to the Dragon have I ever heard of anyone colliding with a bear....
Deer yes, squirrels yes, rabbits yes, turtles yes, but bear NEVER.
I must lead a very sheltered life because after I got back home with my altered MINI and told a few locals my story, then everyone
comes out of the woodwork with their bear stories.
At first I was a little skeptical and figured that some were just trying to match their stories to mine without any real truth in theirs.
But after a little research I have found that bear collisions on the Dragon are not that uncommon.

So from this day forward I will refer to it at BOTD - Bears On The Dragon

Below you'll find a picture of the damage the bear caused to my drivers side door.



But then again there are others that have apparently encountered the same bear.
As the guy pictured below did back in 2006 at MOTD04.



If you have a similar experience of encounters with wildlife on the Dragon or your local twisty road please share it here, with pictures if possible.

 

I'm glad you are OK. I hope the bear is too.

 

Looks like you barely missed him....

 

Come on back in October for MSSD or MSSB
October 24-26, 2008

 

I am definitely planning on going to MSSD/MSSB. As a matter of fact I'll be there with my new anti-bear wardoff device
that was recently installed by my insurance company.

 

Don't forget the wild turkeys! Several folks have struck them on the Dragon. And they are really large birds!!!

There have been many reports of bears at Fontana, but not many reports of collisions with them on the Dragon.

 

Oh! I did forget about the turkeys...
I can't remember who it was that struck a deer a couple of years ago during the Midnight On The
Dragon run, but that did rearrange the front fender of that MINI.

 

Wait until you report that Comp claim to your insurance company. The rep will be like... "ummmm, can you repeat that please, I think we have a bad connection. I thought I heard you say you hit a BEAR?!".

 

He was actually hit BY the bear.... I guess it's a comp claim either way, unless the bear is lying, unmoving, in the middle of the road and you fail to avoid him, right?

 

If the bear wasn't telling the truth, he has witnesses... and can sue the bear's insurance company for his deductible!

 

Well... that gets a little tricky, Paul. Normally, if you hit something stationary in the road, yeah, it's an at-fault accident and a Collision claim.

However, in some situations, we Claim Reps understand that it was really unavoidable and we'll still handle it as a comprehensive claim. Like when you go around a sharp curve at MOTD and hit a bear laying in the road. Or when you are driving down the interstate at night at 65 mph and hit a dead horse in the road (happened to my Dad a few years ago... totalled his Acura).

 

Wow, you claim reps are dang nice folks to give us the benefit of the doubt like that!

I'm just training for my next career. Thanks for the lessons.

 

No problem, Paul... I think we have quite a few Claims Adjusters in the making here on NAM.

If you ever need a letter of recommendation, let me know.

 

Dead horses? Yikes!

You may know of a few lengthy NAM threads where one would be best served to detour around the last few pages to avoid this potential calamity...

 

^

 

Hehe, Funny about Bryson City. I was just there Friday until today. I do have a cabin right outside of town though.

BTW, loved the biker event in Cherokee this weekend since they were everywhere. Went over to Pigeon Forge on Sat and found the car show there. Forgot to check when it was and got the wrong day to go.

While the car show is fun it is held along the main road and traffic backs up pretty bad.

 

To clarify, I believe from the way I've heard it from cabriopilot, the bear ran across the road, then both bear and MINI attempted to stop, bear was struck by MINI in the front shoulder area, which spun it around and its hindquarters struck the door causing the larger of the damage. Bear stumbled a bit, then ran back into the woods.

Feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong cabriopilot

 

Heck, I've been at the Dragon many times and stayed at Fontana. Luckily I've never been hit by a MINI. Nor have I ran into one.

 

Well don't get mad at me if your Aunt Bearverly calls to tell you your cousin was hit by a Pure Silver MINI.

 

I'm sure he'll just grin and bear it, or perhaps run into the nearest road.

 

As I was looking through the latest pictures posted online by one of the many photographers that line the Dragon
I came upon this picture that proves once and for all that there is definitely bears on the Dragon.



He who casts doubt shall be the first stoner... Or however that saying goes...