Chasing Bears

On August 29, we were in the zodiacs by 6:45am. As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm! We were momentarily distracted by a humpback whale swimming alongside our zodiac, but eventually we made our way back through the estuary from yesterday. Right as we were hopping out of the zodiacs, someone spotted a grizzly bear in the water. We walked briskly along the slippery rocks, inching closer to the grizzly. We were hoping to make it up to the viewing log, but the grizzly had other plans in mind... It started walking straight toward us!! We positioned ourselves alongside the water and began photographing it as it walked right past the viewing log we were originally headed to.

Grizzly bears are omnivores, so even though this estuary had little salmon, the bears can eat berries off the nearby trees. 

The grizzly walking down the "path" to the viewing log.

The grizzly kept stopping to smell the air and look at us.

The grizzly stepped down a small hill, and continued walking straight towards us. Unlike Svalbard, the guides don't carry rifles. Instead, the only protection (besides their expert knowledge) is bear spray which is similar to a very strong pepper spray. A couple of times, I looked up and to my surprise, the grizzly was even closer than I had thought. With our big lenses, our sense of distance is sometimes inaccurate as in this case. With all of us frantically clicking away, the grizzly stepped down into the water and swam across to the other side of the river bank. We waited to see if the grizzly would come back, but the tide was once again getting too low and we had to leave.

The grizzly gingerly stepped down into the water below.

Swimming across to the other side.

On the way back to the boat, we stopped to photograph some seals that were all lined up on one log.

There were at least 10 seals on this log at one point!

I'm not quite sure how these seals balance, but they looked quite content.

We continued sailing to Carter Bay, but before we got there we came across a massive waterfall. We basically defined "up close and personal"... the bow of the boat was almost touching the cascading falls!

Sailing up to the waterfall, it reflected perfectly in the water.

The bow of the boat was practically right up against the waterfall!

Hand-held long exposure shot by sticking my whole camera out the boat and blindly shooting.

When we did arrive at Carter Bay, we tried to go on a forest walk. After paddling up the estuary and hiking into the forest, we saw downed trees up ahead. No longer able to continue by going different routes, we had to turn around. During our hike, we came across bear stomping grounds (where bears had walked in other bears' tracks) and we came across evidence of rubbing (where bears rub their backs against trees. It's identifiable by a barren side of a tree where nothing is growing). When we reached the shore, we got back into the zodiacs and tried to get a view upstream. We paddled up the estuary where we saw (and heard) a big waterfall, but didn't see any bears.

The estuary post-hike.

As we continued sailing on the Island Roamer, we saw salmon swimming upstream. We were initially photographing from the boat when our captain suggested we head on land for a better angle. We hiked up vertical forest layers, not really in any sort of path, with leaves brushing up against us. The climb was so steep that at one point, one of the guides literally had to pull me up the mountain. Imagine that! We were even balancing on logs as we walked across the rocks below. Eventually, we reached a small metal platform where we photographed the salmon run. On the way down the super steep part, I decided to slide down the hill like a slide. I didn't even think that I'd rip my waterproof pants in the process!!! Oops!

This was our "path" to the metal platform.

Salmon trying to make it up the river. Many hit their heads on rocks and fell back down, but we did see one make it upstream.

In the afternoon, we headed to Princess Royal Island (which is the island most known for bears in the last 10-15 years and where the National Geographic spirit bear story was just shot).

Quick panorama of the scenery around our anchor site.

Reflections heading into the estuary on the zodiac.

We came across a mother grizzly as we paddled along when suddenly we saw not one, not two, but three other heads pop up... she had three cubs!

Two of the three grizzly cubs.

Mother grizzly taking a quick look around.

After checking the river for salmon, they all disappeared into the forest. By now, the tide was retreating and we had a rather bumpy zodiac ride back to the boat because we kept hitting rocks. Once again, we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

We came across this blue heron on the way out of the estuary.

Another stunning sunset with beautiful reflections in the water.

The following morning, we woke up at 5:30am and were in the zodiacs by 6am. We started going upstream when we decided to land against the river bank instead. We hiked through an open area with small purple flowers, and then the true adventure started... We began a strenuous hike into the thick bush. For awhile, the forest was so overgrown that we couldn't even stand upright because of all the branches! We crouched as we blindly followed the person in front of us, occasionally stepping over logs and dodging Devils Club (a poisonous plant that is painful to touch). We emerged at the edge of the river bank where we could get a better glimpse upstream, where we did see a bear for a second before it wandered off. By now, we were already an hour late for breakfast and after deciding there was nothing else to see there, we made our way back.

While waiting for bears, there were a ton of bald eagles flying around so I decided to practice my bird photography.

We retraced our steps dodging plants and branches whacking us from every angle (from the side, from above, from behind, and the occasional log below). We made our way through the same open field with the flowers and we returned to see the tide had completely dropped... and the zodiacs were completely in the mud. It took seven people to lift the zodiacs back into the water, where we had another bumpy ride out the estuary. On the way out, we photographed a juvenile bald eagle munching on a fish.

To the left of the eagle's talon, you can make out a lump that looks like a stick. It's a fish jaw and if you look closely, you can see two teeth on the curved edge of the upper left.

Pecking at the fish bone.

As we continued sailing on the Island Roamer, we got to an area where we saw more than eight humpback whales at once. We saw one whale breaching off in the distance so we started making our way that direction. Usually, it's rare to see a whale breach more than once or twice. My hope of seeing a humpback whale breaching at this point was fading, but we got to the location and the whale was STILL breaching! We had the pleasure of watching it breach for nearly an hour, with more whales swimming close to our boat. We photographed lying belly down on the bow, my full camera sticking out the railing. Later on, we came across two fin whales (the second largest species on Earth).

Humpback whale breaching close to shore.

One of the many breaches this whale did.

In the morning, we took a zodiac cruise to see if there were any bears. During our outing, it started to rain and the tide was rapidly dropping... so much that our zodiac got stuck in the mud with all of us in it! After three crew members tried to unsuccessfully push our zodiac out of the mud with three of us in it, we had to get out into the squishy mud and walk to the shore. We walked along the beach in mud like quicksand and got picked up by the second zodiac (which didn't get stuck in the mud) because ours was still stuck. Finally, they got the zodiac out and we went to check the crab trap we had laid the night before. We caught a male crab but let it go. We continued sailing and made a stop at a whale research center. It was low tide when we got there, and we practically rappelled up the rocks once more. The barnacles provided some grip, but not enough to make much of a difference on a slippery slope. After making our way up the rocks and after a very brief forest walk, we arrived at BC Whale's research station. Three people are currently living in a hut on the edge of a cliff with one bed, a small kitchen, and no running water or plumbing. We learned about the research being done on orcas and humpback whales, where we listened to recordings done with four hydrosonic microphones. The microphones are used to pinpoint whale interactions whether it's bubble net feeding or humpback whale songs. The researchers played us some humpback whale songs and talked about one of the main questions they hope to answer with their research... how humpbacks all agree on the same song and how it is then communicated to other humpbacks.


After a delicious lunch back onboard the boat of six different kinds of pizza, we were treated to incredible humpbacks breaching... We were so close we could smell the whale's breath (gross!)!! At one point, a whale was right behind our boat where the two zodiacs were tied up... then a second humpback came! During this sighting, there was a lot of pectoral slapping involved.

A delicious pizza meal! 

Cloudy skies were common in the Great Bear Rainforest, and the different shades of the mountains provided interesting layers in photographs.

When whales dive down to breach, they'll lift their flukes. When the flukes go up, you focus your camera on a certain area and hope the whale decides to breach there.

Breaching whale. In the distance, another whale was slapping its pectorals.

Breaching whale right by our boat. We weren't quite expecting it to pop up so close!! 

In the evening, I particularly enjoyed singing with our fabulous chef who was playing songs on the ukulele. We sang I'm Yours, Let It Be, Yellow Taxi, Lost Boy, and more. It was a wonderful evening! The following day, we woke up at 7 and were on our way to the bear viewing site by 8am in the hopes of photographing the rare spirit bears. Kermode "spirit" bears are extremely elusive and rarely seen as there are only about 500. The Spirit Bear is a genetic throwback-- a black bear with a recessive gene for snow white fur. We sat on the platform for hours... literally. We waited, and waited, the chef brought us some soup and sandwiches, we waited some more... and nothing.

While we waited for bears, we took naps and read. I finished an entire book start to finish during this time!! The ledge behind me is where we set up our lunches. Pic: Gerry Van Der Walt.

We stayed there until almost 6pm and didn't see a single bear. Our guide said that this was the lowest he's ever seen the river, likely due to the fact that they haven't had rain in 60 days. We didn't see a single salmon or bald eagle either. We hadn't given up hope yet, though, as we had another day at this same location. The following day, we hiked the same 30 minute hike through the forest with a 100 foot elevation gain. We went across the same wooden platform that only 2 people were allowed to walk on at a time. Today, we started at the highest of the two platforms though after unsuccessfully spotting anything upstream we moved to the lower platform midday. We hiked down the steep rocks, supporting ourselves with the rope attached to the trees. We sat on the ground of the lower platform, using our life jackets as cushions and swatting away the bugs with our buffs. Because it had rained heavily the night before, we were hopeful that the bears would come to check for salmon. I took a little nap and woke up to "look!!!". I thought someone had a spotted a bear... instead, the sighting was salmon. We were even more hopeful now, but still we saw nothing. After leaving at 6pm unsuccessful, we were all disappointed.

An iPhone panorama of the upper bear viewing platform. This platform had benches that we were able to sit on and prop our bags on.

We spent 1,020 minutes (17 hours) sitting on platforms for two days waiting to see bears but nothing came... but that's nature. Of course I am bummed that we didn't have as many bear sightings as I thought and of course I am bummed that we didn't see a single spirit bear, but a photography trip is so much more than the photography. It's the feeling of the cool mist blowing on your face in the early morning, it's the sound of the paddles in the water as you drift upstream, it's playing ukulele and singing with the most amazing chef who can whip up a meal from anything in the pantry, and it's the people you meet along the way. I wouldn't have wanted to spend this expedition with anyone else. The group of people on this trip were some of the most amazing people I've ever met. From their expert knowledge to their passions to laughing constantly, I had so much fun sharing this incredible expedition with this group of people.

One last shot of the Island Roamer.

The morning we disembarked the boat, our chef and I were singing Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. She didn't know what to make for breakfast so I said "that's what you should make!" and so we had banana pancakes for breakfast. We spent the morning at leisure, having a dance party and blasting Africa by Toto. It's the little things like this that made our journey so unforgettable. After taking a group photo on the bow, we disembarked in Kitimat and drove almost an hour to Terrace where we flew onward to Vancouver and then home. I'm leaving this trip with bruises, scraped knees, tons of bug bites, scratches from trees, torn waterproof pants, and waterproof boots that won't dry on the inside, but if I could... I'd do it all over again.

A parting picture of a stunning golden hour sunset. I loved the reflections that evening!

Thanks for reading about my adventures in the Great Bear Rainforest... Stay tuned for what's to come and be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified of new posts! As always, follow my instagram @elissatitle for more pics.