When you can see the water drops on a grizzly’s coat you know that it is coming close. The viewing area the lodge has access to on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River has two stands on either end of a narrow finger of land that separates the entrance to the man-made spawning channel and the main river. This finger of land provides a one way road to drive between stands which allows the van to park next to the stand so it is only a few feet until you are safe in the stand. However it also provides a good path for the grizzlies to use as this picture from Lindy Taylor shows. Bears will walk in front of and beneath the stands which provides great opportunities for pictures.
Some days the grizzly bear watching in July and early August are quite warm so it is unlikely this was a “bath” rather think back on a hot day that you may have experienced and add a heavy fur coat. They are in the Glendale River estuary, which is a mixture of fresh and salt water so their coat will not contain much salt when dry. The sedge grass along the shore is the main reason for the grizzly bears to be in the area as the salmon to not appear until late August.