After August 25 we view the grizzly bears in Knight Inlet from elevated viewing platforms. This is usually an extremely productive spot and because of the platforms guests are often able to get reasonably close to the bears. On a 4 night trip we also explore another river system by truck and on foot. We stick together as a group and with a little work and strategy are often able to find these familiar Grizzlies feeding along the river. Platforms are great for viewing bears, but nothing compares with finding a bear on foot in a safe environment and viewing him at “his level”. The first picture shows a bear on the extra day trip (taken by Felix Rome) and the second is a bear underneath the Knight Inlet viewing platform.
This mother grizzly with the salmon and her cub are about 50 meters (yards) across the river acting natural – fishing. The guests most often comment that this experience is much different than viewing grizzlies on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River the location of our primary grizzly viewing. First is that you are not in a skiff on the river or a viewing stand overlooking the spawning channel. Your are sitting across a river from a grizzly and if it choose could cross the river. Second there is Rick who has spent close to thirty years with these bears. They know his voice and respond in a calm manner when they hear Rick talking to them. If they are walking up river to where you are sitting Rick will stand and start talking as we back off to another location. The bears do not turn and run rather they continue toward you to complete their task and you get to watch them fish.
On the extra day in camp we spend the day on a river located on the BC mainland.After crossing Knight Inlet we travel through Thompson Sound to the Kakweikan River and spend the day with Trapper Rick. We travel via old overgrown logging roads to Rick’s cabin which is about two kilometres (miles) from the mouth of the river. In this photo Rick and four guests are sitting near the falls which is a natural fishing area for grizzlies. Not hard to find Rick in this photo and tomorrow’s post will show what has their interest….
Black bears come in more colours than any other North American mammal. They can be black, brown, cinnamon, blond, blue-gray, or white. This brown “black bear” is one of two that has been viewed in our area for the past two years. And no we do not have the spirit or white bear in our area, they are much further north.
On your first evening at Grizzly Bear Lodge we go on a tour in search of black bears. This evening run is not always successful but we are always looking for black bears on the beach while running up Knight Inlet to the grizzly viewing area or on the way to Johnstone Strait to whale watch. The saying goes that “black bears are where you find them” meaning there is no set location for viewing as there is with the grizzlies. And sometime they are not always black…