Grizzly bears thrive here and the viewing opportunities are spectacular. We have operated our Grizzly Bear Lodge for decades and know the prime spots for bear watching. The ultimate grizzly bear photo opportunities.
Whenever we are fortunate enough to come upon a large pod of pacific white sided dolphins I am not sure who has the most fun, my guests or the dolphins. The dolphins leap out of the water doing flips, ride the bow wave, follow along side the boat and nose up within a meter of the boat’s prop. While doing all this the guest get great shots of water, air and even some that contain dolphins. More than once I have had guest say that the dolphins make the day.
The viewing platform used on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River provide a slightly downward angle to the grizzly bears. In this case the grizzly was beneath the platform providing an excellent view of it’s claws. Over the years we have had return guests who had come at both times of the season and as of yet there is no agreement to which is best.
Watching a grizzly bear from our 5.5 meter (18 foot) flat bottom river skiff is different than from the viewing stands. On the Glendale River or along the shore of it’s bay you are at “eye-level” and often receive that direct eye to eye contact which is permissible at a distance. Close up it could be viewed as a threat so it is avoided. This is the viewing prior to August 25th when we move to the stands on the river. See tomorrows posts….
Another great photo by Glen one of the camp guides and resident photographer. As guides we do have a little advantage over our guest in obtaining those unique photos. The advantage being the amount of time we have on the tours each summer but there is a down side in that we are running the boats so we also miss many opportunities.
It is amazing that this black bear had just swam between two small islands but with one dog like shake it appears dry. Five of six times a summer on whales watching trips we encounter black bears swimming between the many islands as we travel from the lodge to the area of Johnstone Strait. If you go to “Categories” and select “Wildlife Tour Itinerary” along the area to the right you will get some idea of the number of island we travel through and the routes of Grizzly Bear Lodge’s various trips.
This photo was taken about fifty meters (yards) down river from where the grizzly bears in yesterday’s post where standing. The water is a little deeper so fishing is harder but other grizzlies were managing to catch salmon. It is all in the technique and depends on the hunger of the grizzly.
This is the wait and they will come technique. After August 24th the grizzly bear watching is from a platform up the Glendale River. At this location the grizzlies pick off the salmon as the approach the weir into the spawning channel. These bears spent most of the morning waiting for the salmon to move up river rather than moving down to the salmon. See tomorrow….
The water was shallow enough that the fish could not escape and the grizzly picked up several salmon in a short time. Other grizzlies use different techniques, again see the next post…
Each grizzly grizzly bear has it’s own technique for catching salmon and this appeared to be the least successful, at first. We came around a bend in the river to see this young grizzly slashing through the water and thought that it would be fun to watch not expecting much catching. We were wrong, see tomorrow…
The cubs are up and hungry but it is sedge grass for lunch. Sedge grass stalks are spiky, wide and stiff but the sedge grass is up to 25% protein, and this is the reason why grizzly bears prefer eating it to other grasses. In the spring a grizzly bears diets consist of approximately 70% of sedge grass to replenish their lack of proteins during hibernation. Diets shift with the seasons, as summer approaches the berries start to replace the sedge grass and fall brings the salmon into the Glendale River.
Just like that our season has come to an end. I would like to thank all of our wonderful guests and staff who made this year a huge success. I am happy to stay that all of our team is planning to return next season. We are actively taking bookings, with dates starting June 1 2025. Hope to see many of you next season.
The wildlife viewing this season was awesome. A couple highlights that come to mind was the shear number of salmon in our local rivers, as well as the abundance of Resident Orca. With salmon returns being so strong this year, we were happy to see bears in excellent condition. By the end of our season most of the bears had packed on a lot of weight and were getting very “picky” about what parts of the salmon they would eat. Hopefully this will translate into more cubs being born this winter. Another positive was the weather conditions. We had enough rain to keep our fire risks low and it made for some excellent wild berries. The bears took full advantage of this, with the berry season extending far past its normal conclusion. This did mean that we had to work hard to find bears during our summer season, (as they were often feeding on the berries deep into the forest), but moving forward it is excellent that they had such an abundant food supply. The Humpbacks also didn’t disappoint, with great numbers and a few new calves returning with their mothers to feed. After a slower year for resident Orca sightings, this season was one of the best that I can remember. In fact as Im writing this the A62 and A23’s are still being spotted in the area by dedicated biologists. Strong numbers of Chinook and Chum salmon are providing them with a steady food source. There are a lot of positive signs and we are hopeful that 2025 will be another great season.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We plan on having a new cedar front deck built in time for the 2025 season, as well as new ceilings and paint in parts of the lodge and rooms. Theres always projects on the go.
Felix, Julien, Ryan, Zack and Myself all look forward to welcoming guest in June. See everyone soon.
Angus Reid
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