On the first evening in Grizzly Bear Lodge guests go on an hour plus wildlife tour looking for black bear, bald eagles, seals etc. When this bear was first spotted we thought it might be reaching for a drink of water because we were in a bay with a stream and fresh water tends to float on salt water. We were proven wrong as the bear was after the mussels closer to the water. This is part of “the grass is always greener” theory as there were many mussels further up the beach.
This photo was taken on July 12 meaning that this grizzly bear cub was five months old and is already rolling rocks on the beach. Grizzly bear cubs will nurse for up to three years their mother’s milk being more than 30% fat. Depending on when a grizzly mother bear wants to wean her cubs, a decision often made when she decides it’s time to mate again, she will keep producing milk for up to three years. However, grizzly cubs begin eating solid food from an early age and can very quickly become not dependent on mama’s milk. Also notice the hind leg of the mother grizzly is almost furless likely a result of rubbing in the den. It fur did grow back over the summer.
This photo taken on August 27th shows a grizzly and her first year cub on the walkway between the two viewing stands. Just passing beneath our viewing stand and walking down the road. This bear is still pretty lean without the fat “belly” she will need prior to denning for the winter. The salmon have just arrived in the river and over the next two months her cub and her will need to add enough fat from gorging on salmon to survive the winter.
This is a great pose of a mature bald eagle with a solid white head without any dark feathers and the bright yellow in beak and claws. As common as eagles are on the whales watching and grizzly bear tours it is still difficult to obtain a good picture. The important part is the dark background so that the eagle does not blend with the sky. At times it is hard to find and eagle sitting low enough in the trees to achieve the necessary background.
Mid July on a grizzly bear tour up Knight Inlet to the Glendale River estuary and a family of grizzly bears grazing on the breach. A family with first year triplets. One to the left of the large rock, one on the rock and one just behind the right edge of the rock. Sorry the best I could do while maneuvering the boat so we would not get to close and scare them into the high sedge grass. Twins are common in the area; triplets’ not that unusual and this past summer there was even as set of quadruplets a first for the lodge viewing records. On this day the guests got some great pictures much better than mine but that is the most important part of being a guide to ensure the guest photos a better than the guides.
The extra day at Grizzly Bear Lodge is spent on the Kakweikan River with Trapper Rick. The first picture shows Trapper with two guests who appear to be taking pictures of the falls. Twenty minutes earlier there were grizzly bears where they are now standing and they were the subjects of the photos. Now they are trying to capture a photo of the salmon leaping over the falls. With the large lens they are using such a photo takes time and a certain amount of luck but most guests manage a reasonable shot. To the left of Rick is the entrance to the salmon ladder that bypasses the falls. If you walk back up the ladder about thirty meters (yards) one is able to see the fish in the ladder as in the second photo. Not as dramatic as jumping but guaranteed.
Steller sealions have become common on whale watching tours. With the abundance of herring in the area of the day trips the sealions have started to stay all summer rather than just in the spring and fall on their coastal migration. Several dozen of these large males frequent the small island in Weynton Pass across from Vancouver Island’s Telegraph Cove.
Today’s posting is the opposite of yesterdays. We were still going up the river but these grizzly bears were coming down river. It was a high tide and we were about as far up the river as we were able to go in the skiff. We were hugging one side of the river when the mother and cub came around the corner and passed on the other bank about fifteen meters (yards) away. Over a period of several weeks last summer we viewed mother grizzlies and their cubs on a daily basis as we all moved up and down the river with the tide.
The Glendale River, which flows into Knight Inlet, is a tidal river located about an hour and fifteen-minute boat ride from the lodge. As tide rise we can go up river in a shallow draft eighteen-foot skiff and follow the bears. On this day a mother and cubs were slowly grazing in the sedge grass along the riverbank as they made their way up river. The orange arm in the photo belongs to a guest and provides some perspective of the closeness of the bears. We followed this family for about thirty minutes before they wandered into the forest.
The grizzly bear tours from the lodge after August 24th as permitted up the Glendale River to watch the grizzlies catch and eat the spawning salmon. In this case the two year old cubs wants a share of mother’s salmon but mother thinks that at this age it should be catching it’s own food. Grizzly cubs have been known to stay with their mother three or four years if she does not become pregnant but they could also be denning on their own after the second summer.
Just like that another season has come to an end. We are grateful for all the wonderful staff and the guests this season. It was an excellent season and we are already looking forward to next May.
One of the highlights of the season was all of the new cubs out. It was awesome to see so many new cubs of the year and that is great news for our bear populations moving forward. We had great spring viewing and this continued through summer. On our river trips we started to see salmon arriving in August and enjoyed some great shoulder season viewing. The fish at the viewing platforms were a little late showing up this year, but viewing during late September at the platforms was great and the estuary viewing remained strong throughout the season.
Out in the whale watching world it was another year that saw large numbers of resident Orca who remained in the area right into October. The Humpback viewing was also great with large numbers feeding in Blackfish Sound. It is so amazing to have these magnificent animals back in our waters in such numbers.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We rebuilt the front deck last spring, utilising cedar cut on site. We will continue with some siding, rooms improvements and hopefully a floating sauna ready for the start of our season.
2026 is already looking like a very busy season for us. We only have limited high season availability so please book early to ensure we have space for your group.
Looking forward to seeing you next year
Angus Reid
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