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.
As the tide rises in Knight Inlet’s Glendale River estuary the grizzly bear tour from our lodge is able to move up the river and observe bears in their natural surroundings. Even thought the bears have accepted our presence the key: “Is to leave the bears as you find them”. As long as this “philosophy” is followed the bears ignore our viewing and provide opportunities for many great photos such as this mother and her cubs feeding in the river on a rising tide.
Running after salmon in deep water does not seem to be a good technique to catch salmon but the size of the bear indicates success and that is what matters. Every grizzly viewed from the stand on the Glendale River seems to have its own fishing style and in the end all that matters is if the grizzly is able to catch enough salmon to fatten for hibernation. This particular grizzly bear is five years old so the technique works.
An excellent photo of the top of a humpback whales fluke. It clearly shows the scares left by barnacles as well as hole from an old injury. The whale watching tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge has viewed many more humpback whales this summer than in previous years. Viewing each year has improved from an average of four or five whale’s five years ago to twelve to fourteen whales this past summer. The abundance of herring (humpbacks main food) in the area men the whales are spending the summer s in our viewing area rather than traveling to their normal feeding grounds in Alaska.
Grizzly Bear Lodge is located on Minstrel Island, which is located about 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the mouth of Knight Inlet. The black bears in the area are good swimmers and move from island to island in the area. It is common to view black bear on Minstrel Island, in this case not too far from the Lodge. In early spring before there is more activity with the guests the bears are more common but as the Lodge becomes busier the bears tend to stay away from the lodge area but are still on the inland.
The watercolour indicates that his photo was taken after a heavy ran. The water in the entrance to the spawning channel on the Glendale River is normally clear and it is easy to see the salmon swimming but the rains bring runoff sediment to the river and poor visibility. This does not seem to bother the grizzly bear’s ability to catch salmon as this bear sits and eats freshly caught pink salmon.
Grizzly bear tours from our lodge, until August 24, are along the shores of Knight Inlet especially in the estuary of the Glendale River. The tour leaves the lodge at 8:00 a.m. and travels up Knight Inlet looking for black bears, eagles and other marine “wildlife” such as dolphins, whales and orca. Upon arriving at the river estuary we transfer to a 17-foot flat bottom skiff which has a very shallow draft (of maybe six inches). This allows us to travel up the river and estuary where the bears are feeding sedge grass. It is not uncommon to have sub-adult grizzly bear siblings in the area. In the case of this photo they are trying to catch one of the first pink salmon which start arriving in the area in early August. It is easy to see that the tide is on the rise, which means the water is too deep for a successful catch.
The Northern resident orca we view on tour from Grizzly Bear Lodge live in large family groups called pods, with multiple pods making up a population or community. The pods consist of related matrilines, with each matriline often containing 3 or more generations. The head female or matriarch leads each pod, as orca is a female dominated species. The matriarch tends to be the oldest female in the extended family. Her experience and knowledge guides the pod, and the matriarch teaches younger whales about everything from parenting skills, feeding tactics, and navigation through the vast territories that they cover. The pods in our area may be as small as three orca or more than fifteen.
This photo was taken from the viewing stand on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. Grizzly Bear Lodge is permitted to use the stands after August 24th. By this time the salmon have been in the river for close to two weeks and the bears have come to the area to fatten for the winter, because of the abundance of pink salmon. Grizzly bear mothers and cubs are common in the viewing area and this photo has yearling triplets below the stands keeping close attention on another bear fishing in the other end of the pool (30 meters away). This area of the pool is to deep for the cubs to try fishing so mother catches and brings the salmon to them on shore; but she also keeps an eye on other grizzly bears fishing in the area.
Grizzly bears are not the only fishers in the area of Grizzly Bear Lodge that have their own style of fishing. Eagles are often seen picking fish off the surface of the water as we travel up Knight Inlet to the grizzly bears or to Johnstone Strait to view the whales. However in most cases they are grabbing herring or small fish not necessarily a salmon the size that the eagle in the photo has caught. A fish this size often means a swim to shore by the eagle. Yes eagles do swim but not by choice. It normally occurs when the salmon caught is too big to lift out of the water and they use their wings to swim to shore. If they are observed from a reasonable distance they will swim with the fish in their claws however if approached to close I have seen them release the catch and fly away. This is a rare photo and should not be expected on a daily basis even though there are many opportunities for eagle pictures on each tour from the lodge.
Your first evening at Grizzly Bear Lodge normally involes an hour plus boat ride to find black bears. This is after you have been shown your rooms, eaten fresh caught crabs or prawns, had a talk about the lodges night light because we are on a generator etc. The black bears are often the hardest wildlife to find as the first requirement is a low tide so there will be a beach and even with a low tide if there are an abundance of berries (black berries, huckle berries, salmon berries, thimble berries, salal berries …) they do not come to the beach. Often the black bears are viewed on the tours to find whales or while on the trip up Knight Inlet to view the grizzly bears.
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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