Great Bear Rainforest
Highlights
Staying at the Spirit Bear Lodge
Bear Viewing
Trying to Find the Spirit Bear - Kermode Bear (less than 400 in the wild)
Listening to Kitasoo / Xai'xais Traditional Stories
Relaxing in Nature
Kayaking
Learning About Traditional Harvesting Methods
Wildlife Tracking
In a word
Hey bear.
Best Time to Travel
Late August - October
Recommended Length of Time
5 days or for life
Hey Bear
See here, when given the task of planning a family trip and one is currently studying black bears, where do you think I am going to want to visit? The Great Bear Rainforest, of course.
The area in northern British Colombia with its isolated wilderness and majestic northwest landscape has you ponder humanity’s existence and modern development. I only had a slight inclining of what I was getting my family into, but nothing to the extent of what we really did.
The days started off with us gathering our rainboots or wellies (as the Brits shared with us), packing lunches, and sizing up our life vests. We would pile onto the boat with captain Moose, the only two legged Moose you will find in BC, and drive 60 to 90 minutes to one of several bear viewing areas. We were in search of coastal wolves, grizzlies, black bears, and the threatened White Kermode bear – the Spirit Bear.
The look on my parents face when we first stepped on land the first day was a look of shock, “we are walking through here!” A smile on my face responded, “Yes, yes we are.” With our lead guide, we made our way through the thick sedges and grasses to sit on a log for five hours where we waited for the bears to come feast on salmon less than 25 yards away. At one point the dad turns to me and says, “If it were raining, I would kill you.” Love you too dad. And although it never rained on us, we did do a rain dance as the area is thirsty for water, and the salmon are eager to swim upstream to spawn. For five days we were actively bear viewing and a whole lot of wildlife watching, and it was by the third day that our souls were in touch with nature.
Big bear hug to all the Spirit Bear Staff, thank you for a beautiful trip.
