In Search of the Spirit Bear, Part 2
The following is a continuation of last week’s column on the Great Spirit Rainforest.
During our stay at the Great Spirit Lodge, my daughter Tory and I took five different excursions into the surrounding rainforest. Each was incredible. Here are some of the highlights:
When a humpback whale surfaced beside the boat, our guide told us that they track the big animals by recording the patterns on their flukes. As the whale made its terminal dive, we were told its specific pattern was in the registry – the whale’s name was Susan.
Walking into the rainforest along a stream, we came across enormous, moss-covered, old-growth cedars six feet in diameter. We saw a giant, six-inch banana slug, a plant with a five-foot leaves, and streams with so many salmon you could walk across them. Everything in the rainforest seems prehistoric and larger than life.
On our second day, up the Princess Royal Channel, we waited all day in the rain. We saw no bears but we did enjoy a very rare sighting of the elusive wolverine. Tory spotted it first and got a very good look at it. The rarity of the sighting was brought home to us when one of the Kitasoo elders told Tory that he had never seen one.
Up Mussel Inlet on day three, we watched a mother grizzly and her cub feed in the stream for an hour before wandering away. Unexpectedly, a large male grizzly weighing at least 900 pounds came directly toward us. He was upwind and didn’t notice us until the last minute – their eyesight is notoriously bad – and he turned and crossed 15 yards in front of us. Doug Neasloss, our guide, told us there was a 1,200-pound male in the area but he hadn’t seen him in a few days. We also observed two or three other grizzlies with older cubs 100 yards upstream. A good day for grizzlies.
The guides don’t carry guns but large pepper spray containers. The week before our adventure, Doug was “false-charged” by a large male grizzly. This is where the bear charges to establish dominance, and we were assured that they always stop short of you. In Doug’s case, the bear stopped just four feet from him. We were instructed that should this happen, we were to assume a submissive pose and back away slowly. There was no advice on lower bowel activity, but I assume that’s optional. Regardless, never turn and run – this triggers a predator-prey response in the bear and you’re toast. The ranger confirmed the false charge, and suggested that the best use of the pepper spray is to forget the bear and spray it all over yourself – that way, it would at least act as a marinade and add flavour when the bear ate you. Personally, I found it difficult to enjoy bear humour while I was afoot in bear country armed with only pepper spay.
Grizzlies are actually herbivores – they principally eat sedge grass and starchy tubers, but come fall and the salmon run they gorge themselves on fish to build up winter fat reserves, spending their days eating, sleeping and defecating. There’s no mistaking an active bear area, as the ground is littered with salmon carcasses and bear feces and it’s odoriferous. I can’t remember which day we spent crawling through underbrush in such an area in a relentless drizzle, fruitlessly searching for grizzlies, but I do remember that as soon we got a cell signal, Tory called her mom and explained that missing this trip was her best anniversary present ever. Finally, I got an anniversary present in the plus column.
Our best day was day four, when we got special permission from a neighbouring band to travel up to Gribbell Island where a Spirit Bear has been seen. It was a long boat ride, but it proved to be worth it. We walked quite far upstream and had just settled in when the first Spirit Bear arrived. Weighing about 350 pounds, he strolled slowly upstream, fishing for salmon and passing 10 feet in front of Tory, a very rare and special encounter. The water was crystal clear – you could see all the salmon spawning and so could the bears. Unfortunately, you can’t drink the water as “Beaver Fever” or “Giardiasis” is a nasty parasite to be avoided at all cost. A pair of martins arrived to play in the stream, and almost ran Tory over on their exit. Then a black bear came downstream, again fishing for salmon, and passed us by without notice. A short while later another black bear seemed upset by our presence, and turned away into the forest. The setting sun was breaking through the canopy of the rain forest and the light was dancing on the stream when another Spirit Bear charged downstream in front of Tory, water splashing in all directions, backlit by the sun like some mystical apparition. The sight was far too beautiful for words to properly describe. It too was fishing for salmon and lingered right in front of us for a time before attending to an itch and moving downstream without any acknowledgement. We were left breathless.
Tory and I know how lucky we were to see Spirit Bears, but to spend the week together, father and daughter, one on one, searching for the Spirit Bears in the Great Bear Rainforest – that’s as good as it ever gets. We’re thinking of returning to the land of the Spirit Bear to take the Kitasoo up on their offer to camp out on that secret island in search of the Sasquatch. Perhaps that could be Jacquie’s anniversary present next year.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Spirit Bear Lodge, visit www.spiritbear.com. Below, enjoy a selection of photos and some great video footage of our encounter with the bear.
CLICK HERE to see a video of the Spirit Bear, up close and personal.
