River Day

For those that want an adventure that goes a little more off the beaten path… to Trapper Rick’s!

Our optional extra day is truly extra-ordinary, please take a look below.

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.

 

See you at the Lodge

I (one of the guides at the lodge) have signed off the blog for awhile, to go to work where the Internet reception makes it hard to upload pictures. I leave you with a few comments. The majority of the pictures used in the blog were taken with a Pentax Optio 6MP 3X Optical Zoom (a good, but small pocket digital) the pictures attributed to Glen came from a much better camera and of course the guest pictures are from a variety of cameras.

Relaxing at Trapper Rick’s

Enjoying Trapper's falls

The extra day in camp is spend on a seldom visited (except by our guests) wild river with Trapper Rick. This involves an hour boat ride, traveling over old logging roads by truck, crossing the river by boat, hiking to Rick’s cabin, fishing in the river if interested, a picnic lunch, watching salmon in a fish ladder, enjoying amazing scenery, watching salmon leap the falls below the cabin, and on most days watching grizzlies catching salmon. Not to forget conversations with Rick who has lived with the grizzlies for more than twenty years on this river.

 

 

Extra day with Trapper Rick

Waiting for Grizzlies

 

Guests waiting for grizzlies to come to the river to fish. A day with Trapper Rick on the Kakweikan River includes several locations to look for bears, opportunities to fish for salmon, hikes through the rain forest, picnic lunch at Rick’s cabin and a insight into the life of a local legend and trapper. Guests that spend the extra day at Grizzly Bear Lodge visit Rick always ask what will it be like and I don’t have an answer after doing this for ten years. I ask them the same question when they return after having a great day and they are at a loss for word. Some say amazing scenery and wildlife, interesting and passionate character, but the best was “like stepping past in time to see another lifestyle”.

 

Wild River Day

Trapper Rick's river

 

If you book the extra day in camp we cross Knight Inlet and travel through Thompson Sound to the Kakweikan River and spend a day with Trapper Rick.  This river is located on the BC mainland and we travel by old logging roads to Rick’s cabin. Once we cross the river and start the short hike to Rick’s cabin the first stop is often an abandoned bridge, which provides an excellent view of the river and the spawning salmon in the river. The photo above is looking down river and the small flat area at the end of the portion of the river you can see is the  “front yard” of Rick’s cabin. The photo below shows a guest looking into the fish ladder that bypasses the falls in front of the cabin. This is also the area frequently used by grizzly bears to fish for salmon. If bears are not present then guests may fish for salmon below the falls but while you fish one of the guides is always watching for bears as we do move when they arrive.

Ricks Fish Ladder

 

 

 

 

Pacific white-sided dolphins

Pacific whitesided dolphins

Pacific white-sided dolphins are frequently viewed on all our wildlife tours.  There are estimated to be 900,000 pacific white-sided dolphins in the North Pacific. 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. Dolphin remains are present in First Nation’s middens (waste heap) dating back 2,000 years, but were rare in B.C. during the 19th and 20th centuries. They were first spotted by fishermen in 1956 north of Vancouver Island, and sightings became more common in the 1980’s as Pacific white-sided dolphins started to spend more time 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.

 

Extra Lodge Day

Trapper's cabin

If as a guest you choose to stay an extra day with us at Grizzly Bear Lodge we take you to our wild river, the Kakweiken River. Viewing Black Bear, Seals, and perhaps a school of playing White-Sided Dolphins on the way. Once at the river you meet one of our river guides, Trapper Rick or his assistant, and ride the Trapper’s “Grizzly Truck” to the spawning area of the river. Here you may view grizzly and Black Bears and Bald Eagles while watching the schools of salmon preparing for spawning. If you wish, fish off the bank for the salmon or trout. On this day while guests were enjoying a picnic lunch at the trapper’s cabin, which overlooks the waterfalls, I took a few pictures. The one above of the cabin and guests and then I walked to the right side of the above photo to get a picture of the river and one of the fishing pools to find a black bear approaching the cabin. Needless to say lunch was interrupted for a few photos.

Black Bear

 

 

 

 

People Watching Tour

Black Bear

This past summer black bears were hard to find along the shore as the berries seemed to last longer than normal so the bears stayed in the bushes. However we still managed some good photos and in this case I am not sure who was more interested the guests or the bear. The first evening in the lodge we do a black bear tour so you get to know your guide, the operation of the boat and work up an appetite for diner. See tomorrow’s post.

 

 

Bald Eagle Watching Us

Bald eagle

One of the hardest parts of a good photo of a bald eagle is not finding the eagle but getting a clear photo. Although this photo is interesting it would be better without the branch in the way. This required that I back the boat away from the eagle in hopes that it would not move than travel along the shore and drift back so the branch is behind the eagle. There are enough eagles in the area that if guests want a good picture they will get one.

 

 

Waiting for a Grizzly Bear

Trapper Rick's

A quiet time on a beautiful river waiting for a grizzly bear to come into view. If you choose the extra day and night at Grizzly Bear Lodge we travel by boat across Knight Inlet through Thompson Sound to the Kakweikan River. The time with Trapper Rick on this BC mainland river is a step into the past and a different lifestyle. Using a former logging roads were branches become the brushes in a car wash, a boat becomes a ferry to cross a river and after a short hike we arrive at Rick’s cabin. Below the cabin and the fish ladder there is a good chance to view grizzlies fishing, or further up the river you can try fishing yourself. Scrolling down to the April 15th you can read about Rick’s trapping demonstration.