PHOTO ESSAY PHOTO ESSAY TOP: While momma black bear forages below, her cubs play in the branches of a tulip poplar tree about 50-feet from a residential backyard deck in Asheville, North Carolina. From the photographer: " I tell people I am on the bear highway. As a lazy wildlife photographer, I don't have to go any further than my back deck to photograph animals. " PHOTO BY NEIL JACOBS ABOVE LEFT: Peach trees are in full bloom on a late March afternoon at Hyders Farm, located near Landrum, South Carolina. The mountain in the distance is 3,240-foot Hogback Mountain, the southeastern-most protrusion of the Blue Ridge Escarpment. PHOTO BY ROBERT STEPHENS ABOVE RIGHT: In early March, daffodils begin blooming throughout Cades Cove as Great Smoky Mountains National Park bids adieu to winter and welcomes spring. PHOTO BY J. SCOTT GRAHAM 40 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COMhttp://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM