Our lodge is located in a remote area of Knight Inlet and is only accessible by float plane or boat. Many guests ask me how we get out supplies in. A lot of it is brought in by boat or plane, but larger items and fuel is delivered once a month by barge. The barge is able to pull right on to the beach and unload.
From the scenic walk along the edge of the river to the view from the deck of Trapper Rick’s cabin the extra day at the lodge with the Trapper is hard to explain. The best explanation was one I got this summer from a guest. He said it is what city people idealized it would be like to live in the woods and enjoy nature without the interruption of job and neighbours. Maybe a little of Thoreau’s walden pond was part of the explanation.
This is a sequence of pictures from late July last year. The darker male grizzly bear was so thin that you could count his ribs but he was not into eating. Although most of the mating takes place in May and June this bear has a one-track mind. Mating is a highly evolved ritual. Once females come into season, they may leave scent trails, and male bears quickly hone in on the scent….more tomorrow.
One of the viewing platforms used on the fall Grizzly Bear Canada tours is opposite the weir that acts as an entrance to the spawning channel. We normally use the finger stand as it has more of the natural river and does not show the weir in the background but occasionally we stop and check out the weir. On this day there was a grizzly just relaxing, not a care in the world. “Little more privacy please, no flashes.”
At one point in time they were not much more than ten meters (yards) apart. The beach seemed to have pretty good footing for the deer so they were not worried about a sudden lunge from the bear. I am sure the grizzly had determined that the chance of catching one of the deer was not worth the waste of energy required.
Most of the grizzly watching tours from the lodge arrive at the River estuary on Knight Inlet and view the coast black tail deer. The sedge grass is high in protein and provides an excellent food for both deer and grizzly bears. It is the main food sources for grizzlies along with the protein from turning of rocks. The three male deer on the beach with a young grizzly seem to be keeping their distance for a quick get-away.
Grizzlies on the beach! That is where we find them until late August and the salmon arrive in the river. Once the salmon arrive the bears move up the river with the salmon and then we use our viewing stands on the spawning channel. Until that time we have excellent viewing of the bears as they eat the sedge grasses in the Glendale Estuary and forge the beach by turning over rocks and eating anything that moves or at least provides protein. Again Karen and Martin visiting from the UK provided this photo.
Just like that our season has come to an end. I would like to thank all of our wonderful guests and staff who made this year a huge success. I am happy to stay that all of our team is planning to return next season. We are actively taking bookings, with dates starting June 1 2025. Hope to see many of you next season.
The wildlife viewing this season was awesome. A couple highlights that come to mind was the shear number of salmon in our local rivers, as well as the abundance of Resident Orca. With salmon returns being so strong this year, we were happy to see bears in excellent condition. By the end of our season most of the bears had packed on a lot of weight and were getting very “picky” about what parts of the salmon they would eat. Hopefully this will translate into more cubs being born this winter. Another positive was the weather conditions. We had enough rain to keep our fire risks low and it made for some excellent wild berries. The bears took full advantage of this, with the berry season extending far past its normal conclusion. This did mean that we had to work hard to find bears during our summer season, (as they were often feeding on the berries deep into the forest), but moving forward it is excellent that they had such an abundant food supply. The Humpbacks also didn’t disappoint, with great numbers and a few new calves returning with their mothers to feed. After a slower year for resident Orca sightings, this season was one of the best that I can remember. In fact as Im writing this the A62 and A23’s are still being spotted in the area by dedicated biologists. Strong numbers of Chinook and Chum salmon are providing them with a steady food source. There are a lot of positive signs and we are hopeful that 2025 will be another great season.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We plan on having a new cedar front deck built in time for the 2025 season, as well as new ceilings and paint in parts of the lodge and rooms. Theres always projects on the go.
Felix, Julien, Ryan, Zack and Myself all look forward to welcoming guest in June. See everyone soon.
Angus Reid
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