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.
In the distance one can see the bow wake of a boat coming our way. I mention this because it shows that on many whale watching days we are in a very large area with little competition. There are not many boats in your photos. Few boats but a variety of whales as tomorrows post will show…
Beautiful scenery marred by a humpback whale in the distance. A perfect day for whale watching calm enough to get good photos but not so much sun that is is impossible to get the photos. I comment about the whale in the distance because if you have read much of our posting you will know that the norm is much closer and this posting was about the scenery.
After August 24th we move our grizzly bear viewing to the stands which over look the salmon in the river as they wait to enter the man-made spawning channel. This grizzly is directly below the platform and about to enter the holding pool full of salmon.
It is Knight Inlet’s Glendale Cove and it is early June. All the lodge’s grizzly bear viewing prior to August 25th (when we are permitted to use the viewing stands on the river) occurs along the shore. On this morning the grizzly viewed is at the edge of the water on a very low tide. As the tide rises the bears work their way up the beach to the sedge grass and then berry patches as the beach disappears. This makes for great viewing of the bears in their natural habitat and doing what bears do – forage.
The extra day booked at Grizzly Bear Lodge means a trip to Trapper Rick’s to enjoy the scenery of a unique wild river, some more interaction with bears and Trapper Rick and maybe a little river fishing. On this day we were unable to cross the river to find some bears for about an hour because there was a grizzly bear fishing at the boat landing. As the bear approached Rick he had a one sided conversation with the bear and it crossed the river to fish on the other side before it moved up the river. January 19 to 21 has more photos from this incident – can use the side bar at the left to find these photos. All in all it is worth the time to watch grizzlies while waiting to watch grizzlies.
This post ties in with the posts on June 21st and 22nd. Only in this case it is hard to determine that there is a humpback whale beneath the spray of herring.
Eagles, grizzly bears, sea lions, killer whales and humpback whales are not the only thing we watch trying to catch salmon on our wildlife trips. Their are also sports fishermen and in this case commercial fishermen. This boat is the Ocean Predator which works for the Department of Fisheries doing “test sets” to determine if there are enough salmon in the area to have an “opening” for a commercial fish. We watched them do a quick count of the number and variety of salmon in this set. About seventy-five salmon means there will not be an opening for a while.
We have been spotted by the mother grizzly and her cub and in turn they are easier to see on the beach. Heads up and looking in our direction make them much more noticeable than in yesterday’s post.
From a greater distance and if they are not moving grizzly bears tend to blend in with the rocks on the beach. Both bears seem to have found something worthy of their full attention but that is what happens when mother turns over a rock. This inter-tidal zone “food” is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. The “beach food” is important because plant food is relatively scarce during spring and bears will continue to loose weight until well into June.
It is a nice place for watching wildlife but I would not want to have our picnic lunch to close to the Steller sea lions. There are a few sea lions that remain in our area all year but there are definitely more in the spring and fall during their migration between Alaska and California. The noise and aroma are enough to make sure that we are at least upwind in a quieter location for lunch.
Just like that another season has come to an end. We are grateful for all the wonderful staff and the guests this season. It was an excellent season and we are already looking forward to next May.
One of the highlights of the season was all of the new cubs out. It was awesome to see so many new cubs of the year and that is great news for our bear populations moving forward. We had great spring viewing and this continued through summer. On our river trips we started to see salmon arriving in August and enjoyed some great shoulder season viewing. The fish at the viewing platforms were a little late showing up this year, but viewing during late September at the platforms was great and the estuary viewing remained strong throughout the season.
Out in the whale watching world it was another year that saw large numbers of resident Orca who remained in the area right into October. The Humpback viewing was also great with large numbers feeding in Blackfish Sound. It is so amazing to have these magnificent animals back in our waters in such numbers.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We rebuilt the front deck last spring, utilising cedar cut on site. We will continue with some siding, rooms improvements and hopefully a floating sauna ready for the start of our season.
2026 is already looking like a very busy season for us. We only have limited high season availability so please book early to ensure we have space for your group.
Looking forward to seeing you next year
Angus Reid
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