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.

Arrival Day 4 of 5

Black Bear Tour

After your snack and normally before dinner it is time for a tour of the local area. The tour is an hour to an hour and a half depending on the wildlife we encounter. We look for bald eagles, harbour seals and black bear. The bears come to the beach to turnover rocks. This inter-tidal zone “food” is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. The tour also familiarizes you with the boat and guide although your guide may change depending on the day’s activities.

 

 

Arrival Day 3 of 5

Lodge Crab

Once the guides have move your luggage to the lodge and rooms are assigned it is “snack” time. The means fresh dungeness crab or prawns depending on the season, a selection of cheeses, crackers (biscuits), and drinks (tea, coffee, pop / soda, maybe a beer). While you are eating Angus will explain the operation of the lodge and facilities as well as the itinerary for your stay.

 

Arrival Day 2 of 5

Grizzly Bear Lodge

Your first view of the Lodge, except for the plane landing, is from the dock. The camp staff will be on dock to greet you and unload the plane. Unloading means your luggage and food coming into the camp as no plane leaves Campbell River without food if there is extra room. The first building partially hidden by the tree is the main lodge. This building has three guestrooms up stairs and one down (this is seldom used). The second building is the owner’s (Angus and Krystle ) home and over in the corner on the point is the cabin. Between the cabin and the lodge there are normally a maximum of eight guests in camp so the boat on the dock with four guests has room enough to move around for pictures and travel comfortably.

 

 

Arrival Day 1 of 5

Plane arrival

On your afternoon flight to the lodge your plane leaves Campbell River about 3:00. Somedays earlier if all the guests are early or possibly later because of weather (that is rare.). The number of guests determine the size of plane: six or eight gets you the de Havilland Beaver or Twin Otter while four or less and you have the Cessna shown in this photo. The forty-five minute flight is over some amazing scenery so have your camera ready.

 

 

Guest complain about food

Dinner

The main complaint we receive from the guests is that they now know why they are asked to keep the weight of their luggage down because if they didn’t the plane would not get off the water due to weight gain. Looks like halibut, salmon, peas, rice or couscous, eggplant casserole, do not forget the fresh homemade bread at the other end of the table and wine. And this is after either homemade soup or salad. Dinner is a social time served by and eaten with your guides and the only rule we abide by is “What happens in the boat stays in the boat unless the guest mentions it first.”.

 

 

Successful Fishing

Bald Eagle Fishing

Whether you are on the lodge’s front deck, on a grizzly bear trip, whale watching in Johnstone Straits, or on your way to Trapper Rick’s you will see bald eagles. The likely hood of watching them catch a fish increases when whale watching because there is an abundance of herring in the area and therefore more fish to catch. However this eagle picked up a rock cod which is a bottom fish and that means that it was caught and thrown to the eagle to get the photo.

 

 

See you at the Lodge

I (one of the guides at the lodge) have signed off the blog for awhile, to go to work where the Internet reception makes it hard to upload pictures. I leave you with a few comments. The majority of the pictures used in the blog were taken with a Pentax Optio 6MP 3X Optical Zoom (a good, but small pocket digital) the pictures attributed to Glen came from a much better camera and of course the guest pictures are from a variety of cameras.

View from the Lodge

Sunrse at the Lodge

 

Grizzly Bear Lodge is located on Minstrel Island not far from the mouth of Knight Inlet. There is no other permanent human residence on the island but we do share with blacktail deer, one or two black bears, on occasion a grizzly will visit for a day or two and once we saw a wolf. The sunrise from the front deck does happen every day but many days it is obscured by a cloud cover. Knight Inlet is one of the longest on the BC Coast at 125 kilometers (80 miles) in length and because of its size has a microclimate that often becomes overcast in the evening. The good news is that normally by eleven o’clock the sun appears. As nice as it is to have the sun it does make it harder for good pictures when you are getting the reflection off the water.

 

Guest ready for the tour to start

Guests waiting for guide

Morning tours leave the dock by 8:00 in the spring and 7:30 in the fall. Guests are called by 7:00 or 6:30 and come down for breakfast, however many are up earlier once they smell the fresh coffee. While you have breakfast your guide is checking the boat and making sure the pop / beer cooler and picnic lunch is on board. The floater suit tied around this guest’s waist need to be in the boat, as they required by law, but it is not necessary to be worn. Most quests do wear the suits because mornings on the water can be cool and damp. By eleven o’clock the overcast is gone and out comes the sunscreen.