Guide Photos

Awesome sights on a daily basis!

Each day our guides see something new, it never gets old for these guys. Check out some of their photos from guiding bear and whale watching excursions.

Bear through a windsheild

Trapper Rick's Bear

Not a good photo but a good story. If you are visiting Grizzly Bear Lodge for the extra day if is normally spent with Trapper Rick on the Kakweikan River which is a forty-five minute boat ride from the lodge then a twenty minute ride over logging roads and then a ten minute hike to the Trapper’s cabin. As a guide we ride in the back seat of the truck so this is a photo, through a windshield, of a large male grizzly bear walking down the road in front of the truck.  We paced this grizzly for about three miles and it stayed to the middle of the road occasionally looking over it’s shoulder at the truck and even turned off the main road to take the same one we used to get to the river crossing to Rick’s cabin. We waited in the truck giving the bear time before we left for the cabin. So yes we do see grizzlies while visiting the Trapper.

 

Grizzly bear cub copies mothers walk

Mother and Cub walking

This photo from late August with a mother grizzly and cub in synchronized walking was taken at the viewing stands on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River. The lodge is permitted on the stands after August 24th each year.  This is timed to be several weeks after the spawning salmon have arrived in the river and gives the bears time to return to the area to fish. By looking at the lack of belly on this female grizzly she and her cub need to put on allot of fat if they are going to survive the winter.  A grizzly will lose up to 40% of its body fat during hibernation so they must start with extra fat to survive.

Grizzly Bear Lodge’s front deck sunrise

Sunrise

Early risers get the sunrise at Grizzly Bear Lodge.  The guides are up at 6:30 setting out breakfast, fresh coffee and getting our boats packet with picnic lunches and drinks for the full day ahead. Guests are called by seven and we like to be underway by eight although some guests (depending on how long they have been in British Columbia) are up waiting for the guides. The overcast sky looks ominous however Knight Inlet does attract that low morning cloud but it is gone before noon for the whale watching safaris which travel toward the Johnstone Strait area. For the grizzly bear tour which heads up the inlet is gone by the time you reach Glendale Cove around nine.

Eagle eye

Bald Eagle in flight

A great bald eagle picture provided by Glen one of the lodge’s guides. Some guests manage to obtain good “diving” eagle pictures but Glen seems to have the edge.  As is the case with most wildlife photography – “opportunity, opportunity, opportunity”. The more time one is able to spend taking picture the more likely that there will be a great one. I am not belittling Glen’s success, as that is his own philosophy. I keep say that it is only partially true one need an “eye” for composition and Glen definitely has the “eye”.

Grizzly Bear viewing close up

grizzly grazing
Click to enlarge then click again

 

The red coat in the corner of the picture is intentional to show how close the grizzly bear viewing can become. The grizzly bear tours travel up Knight Inlet to the Glendale River where we tie to a float and transfer to a sixteen-foot aluminum skiff to view the bears along the shore and in the river estuary. The loaded skill only draws about eight inches of water and when the depth is about two feet your guide, in waders, enters the water to move the boat along the shore or up the river. At times I have had guests ask me to move back a little, as they did not want to change their lens again. The grizzlies are normally so intent with eating the sedge grass that they do not acknowledge our presence and only look up to swallow before they return to grazing. The photo date in August 18th so we are viewing in the estuary and with the bears waiting for the salmon to arrive. NOTE enlarge the photo

Pacific White-sides coming close

Pacific white-sided polphins

Pacific white-sided dolphins may be viewed on any of the tour days whether it is for grizzly bears, whale watching or on a trip to visit Trapper Rick on your extra day visiting Grizzly Bear Lodge. Vancouver Aquarium’s AquaFacts state “Pacific white-sided dolphins are present in First Nations middens dating back 2,000 years, but they were rare in B.C. during the 19th and 20th centuries. Starting in the 1980’s, Pacific white-sided dolphins started to become more abundant in inshore waters and inlets along the B.C. coast. It’s possible that their long absence was related to a change in ocean temperatures and a shift in their prey distribution. In the entire North Pacific, there are estimated to be approximately 900,000 Pacific white-sided dolphins. Dolphins travel in groups throughout their lives. In B.C., Pacific white-sided dolphins are usually encountered in groups of 10 – 100 animals, although some groups have been seen with 2,000 or more individuals.” As Lynn Morris’s photo indicates these dolphins are curious and if we are near a large pod they will come and play in the bow wake, if we stop they will swim beneath the boat.

Guests being ignored

grizzly below stands
Click photo to enlarge then click again

 

“If I don’t look at you are not there.” The grizzly bear tours from the lodge, after August 24th, are permitted to travel up the Glendale River to the man-made spawning channel and use one of the two viewing stands. These brown bears have accepted or presence and will pass close and at times underneath the stands.  They seem to show no fear but loud noise, flashes from cameras or sudden movement will cause them to move off the river.

It is a keeper

grizzly fishing pinksalmon
Click photo to enlarge then click again

“It is a keeper” is often the first words out of a fishing guide’s mouth when guests first get the salmon to the boat. In this case the grizzly bear must be thinking the same thought, as bears are selective when deciding which salmon to keep at certain times of the season. The selection is based on “male or female”; the fat rich eggs are a prime concern to speed up the weight gain to ensure a successful hibernation.  The tell tail feature for human is that male pink salmon have a rather large and distinctive hump on their back and thus the nick name “humpy”.  As Lynn’s photo shows this salmon lacks the hump so it is a female and to the grizzly “it is a keeper”.

Bald eagle sunning after a rain

Bald eagle sunning

Even eagles need to get dry. On the lodge’s wilderness tours it is not uncommon to see bald eagle with their wings spread either enjoying the sun or drying after a rain shower.  Glen’s photo also shows a pretty good balancing act if you look closely this eagle is standing on one foot while spreading it’s wings. Not the average bird show.

Grizzly Bear Claws

Grizzly bear claws

A great photo by Glen, one of the guides, of a large male’s grizzly on the Glendale River. In spite of the black colouring it is a grizzly if you have looked at other photos post in the blog or the many on the website you will see that the bears in our grizzly bear viewing area range from one that is so blonde (cream) it is almost white to every shade of brown to almost black. The coats can be a relatively uniform colour or have markings of various shades of colours. In this case the claws are a give away they are much longer that a black bear claws. Click photo then click again to enlarge.