Tag Archives: Grizzly Bears
Arrival at the Glendale River-1 of 3
On your spring and early summer tour day with the grizzly bears we are in the boat and leaving the lodge by 8:00. It is and hour and fifteen minute boat ride up Knight Inlet to the Glendale River. On the trip up the Inlet I look for black bears, eagles, dolphins while the guest enjoy the scenery. Upon arrive we get into a sixteen foot skiff which we use to travel in the shallow waters of the river estuary. This morning has a low tide and we are waiting for the tide to rise so we can move up the river. And NO the guest are not alone at this point the guides are in the water pulling the boat up the river that is why the motor is raised. Notice the grizzlies close enough for a long lens. More tomorrow.
Two Grizzlies Grazing on Sedge Grass
Spring in Knight Inlet does bring some large grizzly bears to the lodge’s tour area in the Glendale River estuary. The spring and early summer bears are eating the high protein sedge grass or turning over beach rocks in search for other forms of protein. These are good-sized grizzlies for the spring. They are keeping a wary eye on the viewing boats. This is a low tide, which means the guests are in a sixteen-foot skiff and we are working our way up river and providing opportunities for good photos and memories.
Grizzly Bears – A nursing mom
The spring and early summer Grizzly Bear tours from our lodge on Minstrel Island find the bears along the shore of Knight Inlet. The early spring grizzlies are not as fat as the fall bears and occasionally show sign of the time in the den. Notice mom’s back and hind leg and the rubbed off fur. It is also obvious that this is a nursing bear but the cubs learn at an early age to turn rocks and to supplement mom’s milk. The tour leaves the lodge about 8:00 and we start looking for bears immediately. Normally black bears for the first half of the boat ride and then grizzly bears once we are closer to the Glendale River estuary which is about 25 kilometers up the Knight Inlet from the lodge.
Grizzly Bear Viewing on the River
As mentioned in yesterday’s post we do use a skiff to view bears on the Glendale River and in the river estuary. This photo is an example of me holding the boat against one side of the river while a mother grizzly bear and her two two-year old cubs walked down the other side. Needless to say the guests obtained some good photos and memories. One guest commented that he was close to the edge of “His comfort zone”. As shown by this picture the bears have NO interest in our presence as long as we do not block their progress down river. The key is to stay back out of the way and allow them free passage.
Good Fishing area for a Grizzly Bear
This is the classic pose for a grizzly bear. The photo was taken from the viewing stands on the Glendale River in Knight Inlet BC. The late summer grizzly viewing, after August 24th, requires a short van ride (fifteen minutes) from a floating dock in the river estuary to the man made spawning channel. The grizzlies of the Knight Inlet area, which is on the southern edge of the Great Bear Rainforest come to this river to feed on the fall, run of spawning salmon. The day tours from our lodge on Minstrel Island use these viewing stands and often view more than a dozen different grizzly bears in the immediate area of the stands as well as grizzlies on the drive to the stands. If one looks closely in the water around the bear there are many salmon on their way to the spawning channel and the main reason the bears stay in this part of the river.
Grizzly Triplets on a June Tour
Grizzly Bear Lodge opens in late May or early June depending on the bookings. The grizzlies do not depend on booking and start to appear along the shore of Knight Inlet by mid-May. On the grizzly bear watching day guest leave the lodge at 8:00 and have an hour and fifteen minute boat ride up the inlet to the Glendale River estuary. Any time in the last twenty minutes or so of the ride it is possible to see grizzlies on the shore and the first hour likely black bear. This photo of mother and triplets was taken in the river estuary and at this early age the cubs stay pretty close to mom.
Grizzly Mother and Cub
A mother grizzly and her cub visit the viewing stands used by the lodge after August 24th. The grizzly bears come to the area in the fall because of the abundance of spawning salmon in the river. This abundance allows the bears to feed and gain sufficient weight (140 to 180 kg, 300 to 400 lbs) to last through hibernation. The spring viewing occurs in the river estuary of Knight Inlet’s Glendale Cove where the bears feed on the sedge grass and protein found along the shore. This mother and first-year cub spent the summer along the shore and have recently moved up the river to bulk up for the winter.
An Abundance of Grizzly Bears
As a guide I do not have much opportunity to take pictures especially in the spring. Grizzly viewing takes place in the Glendale River estuary about an hour and fifteen minute boat ride up Knight Inlet from our lodge. On arrival we change boats to use a sixteen-foot skiff which allows us to travel up the river and along the shore in shallow water. The “up river” portion of the day means that the guides are in the water pulling the skiff in the knee deep water and to minimize the noise. Pulling the skiff often means that my camera is in the back of the boat while I am at the front but on occasion I do manage to take a picture but not always of ALL the bears at once.
Grizzly Bears are omnivorous
In the spring the grizzly bears we view on lodges wilderness tours are primarily grazers. They some down to the shores of Knight Inlet to eat the sedge grass which is very high in protein this sustains them until the salmon enter the rivers of British Columbia’s coast in mid-August. The morning grizzly bear tour uses 18 to 20 foot boats to travel up Knight Inlet to the Glendale River where we transfer to smaller flat bottom boats that allow us to drift along the shore to watch and hear the bears eating.
