We offer an exceptional fly-in lodge for Grizzly Bear Watching and Whale Watching in British Columbia.
Learn about What’s happening at the Lodge, view our British Columbia’s Wildlife Report, read our Grizzly Bear Watching Blog and Whale Watching Blog. Learn more about a Day on the River Blog, see Our Tour Guide’s Photos & Blog and Photos from Our Guests.
Harbour Seals are a very common sight on all of our trips. We often take them for granted, because there are so many of them in the area. They feed on various fish, but herring and salmon make up the bulk of their diet. Thanks to Felix for the great picture
The table is set with salads, fresh homemade bread and wine. Dinning at Grizzly Bear Lodge is the good food that the guests rave about and guests and staff’s lively conversations. Remember “what happens in the boat stay in the boat unless the guest open the topic”. The eating part of dinner may be completed in an hour but the conversation around the table may last for several hours.
The picnic lunches are popular with the guests. The basics start with: cheese, crackers, fresh vegetables (carrots, peas, tomatoes), drinks, plus a dessert of cake, loaf, squares and the ever popular LARGE bag of cookies. Then add any of the following: homemade soup or chili, wraps, sausage rolls, hard boiled eggs, smoked salmon and bagels, “Dagwood” style sandwiches (check the internet), BBQ chicken and the list is long enough so that you will not have the same lunch twice on your visit. What changes is the location of your lunch: while grizzly bear watching it is on a float in Knight Inlet’s Glendale Cove; whale watching it is drifting in a boat somewhere in the area of Johnstone Strait; and if visiting Trapper Risk on a remote BC river it will likely be on the deck of his cabin with a view of the river.
The champagne was brought from France (a tradition with the guests who take a bottle on all their vacations to drink in a memorable location). This picture is missing another table of food.
Guides at Grizzly Bear Lodge are up a half-hour before we call the guests for breakfast. Guests are call at 7:00 in the spring and 6:30 after August 24th (however some days guests are up before guides allot depends on “jet lag”). Our most important job is coffee and hot water for tea. The table is set the night before and we put out the “frig food”. The table contains home made muffins and bread, cereals both cold and hot (in a package), fruit (fresh and in bowels to be added to cereal), yogurt, and juices. Some guests take a muffin or fruit for a morning snack even though each boat has a great picnic lunch….
The problem the grizzly is yesterday’s post has is the four bears in today’s. No bear except a large male wants to confront a mother grizzly bear with two cubs. And this was a five-year-old male who wanted time to think about its decision. Also in the photo is another large female but without cubs (head lower right corner). After about five minutes of pondering he entered the river and did some fishing but kept his distance from the other bears.
This grizzly came to a point about 8 meters (26 feet) from the base of the viewing platform that overlooks the spawning channel on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. The platform, which we use after August 24th, provides a view of the man-made spawning channel containing salmon. This is a favourite fishing location for the grizzlies on the lodge’s grizzly bear watching tours. That creates the problem for this bear as will be seen in tomorrow’s post….
Always trying for an interesting photo while on a wildlife tour and this time it worked. The whale’s tail gets the attention but I wanted to focus on the sooty shearwater. The heading of an article I found reads “Longest Animal Migration Measured, Bird Flies 40,000 Miles a Year”. Sooty shearwaters migrate nearly 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) a year, flying from New Zealand to the North Pacific Ocean every summer in search of food. The birds leave New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter—summer in the Northern Hemisphere—and take advantage of prevailing winds along different portions of their migration route. Our area is a resting point and feeding area as they return home in September.”
Your first evening at Grizzly Bear Lodge includes a tour in looking for black bears. The “looking” for black bears is part of every trip we take in a boat. This photo was at 7:27 on August 11 on the back side of Minstrel Island the home of Grizzly Bear Lodge. Yes, we do have black bears on our island and our daily tours do leave at 7:30 or earlier if guests are ready.
There were some salmon working their way up river over the small falls and they were spotted by this grizzly. However by the time it got closer the salmon had mover up river but that did not stop this bear from watching this same area for over ten minutes before it moved on.
Stellar Sea Lions are often seen on out tours and are common in large numbers from late August until the end of our season. Stellar Sea Lions are creatures of habit and will use the same rocks to haul out on year after year. Stellar Sea Lions do not migrate, but they do move throughout the season from resting, feeding and mating(rookery) areas. They eat a variety of fish, but can often be seen feeding on migrating salmon that pass through Blackfish Sound, where we spend a lot of time whale watching.
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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