While driving down the road in Cades Cove, we saw a mother bear and two cubs run across the road in front of us. We decided to stop and follow behind at a safe distance. We know not to get too close to a mother with cubs- a potentially dangerous situation. When we got to a clearing, the mother bear had treed her cubs and was using the base of the tree to scratch her back. We stayed about 50 feet away, a distance momma seemed to feel was safe. The cubs were not happy about being stuck in the tree as was evident by their huffing and blowing.