The Lodge

All about Sailcone’s Grizzly Bear Lodge

There’s lots to see and do right here at the lodge. Some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities are right outside your window. The trip here on the float plane is a scenic one with lot’s of great photo opportunities.

Days almost over

dinner

The table is set with salads, fresh homemade bread and wine. Dinning at Grizzly Bear Lodge is a “family affair” in that it is good food that the guests rave about and guests and staff share the same table leading to lively conversations. A guide rule is “what happens in the boat stays in the boat unless the guest open the topic”. The dining part of dinner may be completed in an hour but the conversation around the table last for several hours.  At times (often after nine o’clock) we have to ask the guest to move into the living room so we can set the table for breakfast.

 

 

 

Good Morning 2 of 2

breakfast

After the photos comes breakfast. Breakfast consists of: likely the most important thing  – coffee and boilded water for tea – then home made muffins and bread, cereals both cold and hot (in a package), fruit (fresh and in bowels to be added to cereal), yogurt, juices and then more coffee. The each boat  has a great picnic lunch but guests often take a muffin or fruit for a morning snack.

 

 

Good Morning 1 of 2

sunrise

In the morning we always have a sunrise from the front deck it is just that most mornings the low-lying marine clouds make it hard to see.  This cloud cover is gone before noon providing good light for photos. This photo was a quick snap from my camera as coffee was just being served and guests were on the deck needing room from their own “photo ops”.

 

 

Bald Eagle Soaring

Bald Eagle

Depending on the time of the season bald eagle may or not be abundant. By late August through October the most of the eagles have moved away from their ocean feeding grounds to the rivers that are full of spawning salmon. Birds of prey find it much easier to feed on dying or dead salmon than to catch live food (herring or small salmon) and they use fewer calories. Fortunately our grizzly bear viewing tours are on such a river so eagles are available for good photos all season.

 

 

Evening Black Bear Tour 2 0f 2

black bear tourYes this is an evening black bear tour and this is a mother grizzly bear with two first year cubs. This bear spent most of the summer in an area that was less then a twenty minute boat ride from the lodge. Some mornings she was observed on the way to the whales and other evening on a black bear tour. This evening we followed them along the shore for close to an hour which extended our evening tour so we got back just before dark. Our lodge does not have a tight schedule requiring us to be back at the lodge at a set time so if we find something worth watching, we watch.

 

 

Evening Black Bear Tour 1 0f 2

black bear and cub

 

The first evening at the Grizzly Bear Lodge includes a black bear tour in the local area around the lodge. For the 2015 season it has been harder to find black bears on the evening tour that grizzly bears on the day trip up Knight Inlet. Most guests were able to view black bears some time on their visit as your guide is constantly watching the shore on the whale watching day, grizzly bear trip and the day at the wild river. The above photo was on a whale-watching trip. We spent forty-five or so minutes with this mother and cubs she pass through several small bays rolling rocks and at the edge of the forest eating salal berries.

Moon over Knight Inlet

Moonrise

On a rare night when the sky is clear we have the moon from the front deck of Grizzly Bear Lodge.  The length and size of Knight Inlet has an effect on the marine weather in the area of the lodge.  Most evenings a high marine overcast rolls up Knight Inlet to block out the moonrise. Fortunately this marine cloud covering burns off by ten in the morning to produce a clear day.

 

Late Afternoon at the Lodge

Grizzly Bear Lodge

Most of the day trips from the Lodge return by 4:30, which leaves a couple of hours of down time before dinner. Guests congregate on the front deck, walk the beach, hike the trails behind the lodge or read in the sunshine. The other and for most the more important activity is to check their days photos. It is also the time guests exchange e-mails so they can trade pictures if they are not able to do that on their laptops.

 

 

Black Bear Tours

Black Bear

The idea of a black bear tour is a little misleading as every tour could end up with a black bear sighting. However on your first evening at the lodge we spend an hour or more going for an evening tour to find black bear. The success of the trip depends mostly on the tide because if the tide is high there is no beach and therefore no bears. But this photo shows that some evenings are successful and the reason that part of the bear is cut off is I was trying to show the location of the bear to the boat by getting the bow search light in the picture (that white arc in the lower left corner).

 

 

Grizzly Bear Lodge Sunrise

Grizzly Bear Lodge Sunrise

Prior to August 25th guest are called for breakfast at 7:00 am for an 8:00 departure and after the 24th at 6:30 for a 7:30 departure. This is only important because the sunrises are normally earlier than your wake-up call. For most guests this is not an issue as they are often up and enjoying the scenery from the front deck before we start marking coffee around 6:15. The day trips return to the lodge sometime between 3 and 5 p.m. so it is important that we have a good picnic lunch and our cook does a good lunch. In all my years (10) at the lodge we have yet to eat all the lunch and often it seems we hardy eat half.