Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Tour Blog

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.

Everybody gets a Killer Whale

research vessele

The above photo shows an orange zodiac very close to the orca and this is permissible if you are a research vessel however it should be flying a “research” flag. The photo below shows what happens if you wait patiently in the right place, the killer whales come to you.

Killer whales close

 

 

 

Traffic jam at Trapper Rick’s

Grizzly blocking road

On your extra day in camp we cross Knight Inlet pass through Thompson Sound to the Kakweikan River and spend a day with Trapper Rick.  This river located on the BC mainland is accessible only by boat. From the dock we travel by truck to Rick’s cabin and occasionally find Grizzly Bears on the road. We followed this bear down the road for five or six minutes until it reached its destination and turned into the forest. The roads are a main highway for the bears as travel is easier then forest trails and being that Rick’s truck is the only one using the road there is no traffic congestion.

 

 

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.”.

 

 

Tail led to Lunge

Good Tail for humpback

Our viewing area for humpback whales is off the mouth of Knight Inlet. On a flood (rising) tide the herring move toward the shore and this brings the humpbacks from deeper water. The herring are forced into tight schools known as “herring balls”, which vary in size of a basketball to the size of a small boat. The humpback whales dive deep (above photo) to come up beneath the ball with mouth open (photo below) and that is lunch. I say lunch because that is normally what we are doing while we watch the whales, eating our picnic lunch.

Humpback lunge feeding

 

 

 

 

Grizzly Coming Our Way

Large grizzly bear

The viewing stand we use in the fall is located on the Glendale River and the grizzlies we view use the river as their highway as well as their larder. This good sized male grizzly came down the river very close to our platform and fished for salmon for the for more than half and hour before continuing down river. As I have stated before in the blog it is good to have the big bears have a short visit because they tend to scare other bears.

 

 

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.

 

 

River in conflict

River walking Grizzly

This sub-adult (four or five year old) grizzly is walking down-river but if you look closely at the water pushing against its legs the water is flowing up-river. The lower part of Knight Inlet’s Glendale River is a tidal river and at certain tides it provides our flat-bottom boats enough water that we can quietly move up the river to watch the grizzlies. This river is not more than 25 meters (yards) at its widest, which means when we meet a grizzly you are able to get good photos. The bears have become accustomed to meeting small boats on the river and if you are concerned about your safety just remember that as your guide I have a family and will not be taking ANY risk that jeopardize your or my life.

 

 

Extra day in Camp

Trapper Rick's view

If you choose to spend the extra day at Grizzly Bear Lodge it is spent with Trapper Rick on the Kakweikan River. This is a remote river that that requires a guide, which means that access to the public is limited. The view from the front of Rick’s small A-frame cabin can be both relaxing and exciting. Relaxing as a place to have lunch and enjoy a conversation with Rick who is so passionate about his bears and exciting when you walk down to the river in the photo and see grizzly bears feeding.

 

Orcalab – What is it?

Resident male orca

A male and female orca / killer whlaes passing close to the boat in Blackfish Sound. Blackfish is the native name for orca. In the background one can see the building of OrcaLab. From their website at http://orcalab.org/:

“The work of OrcaLab is centred on the philosophy that it is possible to study the wild without interfering with lives or habitat. A network of hydrophones, positioned around the orcas’ “core habitat”, helps us monitor their movements all year round. Supplementing the acoustic data are visual sightings of orcas as they pass OrcaLab, and reports from land observation sites staffed by OrcaLab volunteers during the summer “season”, as well as reports from other researchers and whale watchers who share observations and information.”

If you go to OrcaLabs second website at “www.orca-live.net/” and click on “OrcaLive” then click on the map “The Hanson Island area” you have a view of the area where Grizzly Bear Lodge does their whale watching.

 

 

Good fishing for Grizzly Bears

Salmon eating grizzly

The summer of 2014 was a good summer for the grizzlies because of the early arrival of the salmon in the river. This brought more bears to the river in early August before we were viewing the grizzlies from the viewing platforms. Once we were in the platforms the bears that were fishing close had many salmon to choose from and tended to stay longer in the area. As this photo shows there were often salmon floating around the bears so they had their pick for lunch.