The time of the grizzly bear watching can be determined by the size of the bears. The grizzlies of late May and June are much leaner as they are recovering from a period of hibernation and will be adding little fat to their body. Through July and early August they start to show the effect of all the protein from grazing on sedge grass and turning over the beach rocks. By early August the salmon start to appear in the rivers and this is when most of the “bulk” starts to show. So this is a mid-August photo with the grizzly bears starting to develop a rounded body and curves where there used to be boney angles. This photo in from Knight Inlet’s Glendale River estuary on a rising tide. Grizzly Bear Lodge uses this river basin for all our tours and prior to August 25th the tours are in the river estuary and after the date we use the viewing platform further up the same river.
Our lodge is located between Vancouver Island and mainland BC on Knight Inlet a forty five-minute plane ride from Campbell River. The grizzly bears are normally viewed “up” the inlet from the lodge on the Glendale River. In the fall the bears are feeding on the salmon in the river as the photo shows even a grizzly seems to pause in the meal to enjoy a flower.
