Our life did not go as planned in 2024. Health issues reminded us that we were not invulnerable and led to the cancellation of our bucket list trip to Norway in the fall. Our self assurance for international travel had taken a big hit. We were unclear what our lives would be like going forward into 2025 causing us to rethink and revise our travel plans.
For the last 20 years we have travelled the world with out any serious health incidents and the goal to continue to travel the world as long as we could. We did realize that at some point our age would get in the way and when the time came, we could spend more time seeing Canada.
Our health has improved but our confidence still needs a bit of rebuilding, so we made the decision to start on our Canadian bucket list in 2025 and get our mojo back. With left over travel money from 2024 added to our stash for 2025, we were able to consider taking two of our more expensive Canadian trips in the same year.
The Great Bear Rainforest
The Great Bear Rainforest is a temperate rain forest on the Pacific coast of British Columbia comprising 6.4 million hectares. It is part of the larger Pacific temperate rainforest Eco-region, which is the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world. It encompasses an area of 32,000 sq. km from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Haida Gwaii in the north with an area of roughly 32,000 sq km. The area is home to species such as cougars, wolves, salmon, grizzly bears and the Kermode (spirit) bear. A unique subspecies of black bear, in which one in ten cubs displays a recessive white coloured coat. Wikipedia
The inspiration for the trip into the Great Bear Rainforest arose from a trip we took to Haida Gwaii.
See blog Nov 2016 The Missing Misty and Mysterious Haida Gwaii
Images on a video shown on the ferry about the Great Bear Rainforest and Kermode or Spirit Bear contained footage of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park and the grizzly bears that can be found there feeding on spawning salmon that come up the Atnarko River in the Bella Coola valley.
Returning home from Haida Gwaii and researching (YouTube videos) the Park, seeing the images, a trip to the Bella Coola Valley was born along with a stay at the expensive Tweedsmuir Park Lodge. The Lodge is located 30 km outside of the village of Bella Coola and can be reached by car or ferry from Vancouver Island.
Photo: Rainforest Conservation Foundation
Our trip started by car from Penticton with an overnight in the city of Williams Lake then on to Bella Coola the next day. It was early September and we left Penticton with temperatures still in the low 30's with the hope to find cooler temperatures in Bella Coola. As the weather cools, the temperatures of the water in the spawning rivers drop. The cooler water attracts the salmon into the spawning rivers. Cold water is necessary to ensure the salmon eggs will develop properly. These rivers filled with spawning salmon are what attract the grizzlies to the area.
Road access to Bella Coola is Highway #20 and runs 454 km from Williams Lake in the Central Interior of BC into the Bella Coola Valley. The road is nicely paved for the first 319 km to Anaheim Lake. Here it transitions into a all-season gravel road. It was at that exact moment where my windshield, newly replaced only two weeks before was kissed by some of that gravel and developed a new small crack. WTF.
From here the highway starts descending into Heckman Pass. The descent is 43 km long and includes a 19 km section with steep grades, some up to 18%. This section is nicknamed The HILL and is listed on the website Dangerous Roads. I have included a link to their website below. Photo:roadtrippers.com
Driving the treacherously steep Bella Coola Road in British Columbia
The video does not really show how scary it is to drive down a hill with a 18% grade. Thankfully the road returns to pavement at the bottom of descent. Not for the lighthearted and vehicles with worn out brakes. I did not mention this part of the drive to Nonie. She screamed like a little girl on two of the really steep hairpin sections.
We have been spending a lot of time in BC's rainforests for the last few years and have found many areas suffering drought conditions with forest fires becoming omnipresent.
See blog Oct. 2023 What to Expect Hiking in a Rainforest
Sadly the Park has not been left untouched. The highway took us within a few kilometres of a new fire started by lightening a few days before. We were lucky that the road remained open, It did close for several hours the next day affecting the arrival of some Lodge guests.
As we entered the Park, we found that an earlier fire had nearly taken out the park sign.
Our home for the next 3 nights was Tweedsmuir Park Lodge advertised as located in the depth of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. They made it sound very remote but in fact located only a stones throw from Highway #20 but it was located on the banks of the Atnarko, a spawning river.
Upon arrival we were given a "bear aware" talk. Basically, keep your head on a swivel when wandering the Lodge grounds. While we were inside checking in, a bear walked along the river at the bottom the grounds and disappeared into the trees. By the time we had got outside, it had disappeared.
We had a very nice cabin with all the modern conveniences, including a full bathroom, gas fireplace and thankfully air conditioning.
The temperatures were in the high 20's for our entire stay. Temperatures for this time of year are usually in the mid-teens.
The lodge was all inclusive and included daily guided opportunities to see Grizzlies. Our itinerary included two four hour raft floats down the Atnarko
The raft could accommodate 6 people, are quite light and easily manoeuvred on the water.
and two 4 hour guided trail hikes.
Sneaking up on Grizzly bears is not recommended.
The lodge also has a bear watching tower located on the river and 50 metres away from our cabin. I started off each morning and ended each day in the tower with a coffee, binoculars and camera at the ready for the illusive grizzly that wondered through on the day we arrived.
We had arrived at the early part of the spawning cycle so the warmer temperatures were keeping the salmon from making their way up from the Burke Channel and into the Atnarko in the great amounts that would attract Grizzlies.
Sadly, we were not blessed to see a grizzly. We were never in the right place or time to see the few grizzlies that were around. We had to be satisfied with a half eaten salmon, some steaming bear scat, fresh bear tracks on the wet river banks and the stories of our fellow travellers, most who were lucky enough to see a bear.
Disappointed is an understatement. But on the bright side, I am already making plans to return to the the Great Bear Rainforest for another try. Stay tuned.
There was still some icing left on our trip. A ten hour BC Ferry ride on the Northern Sea Wolf from Bella Coola to town of Port Hardy on the north end of Vancouver Island.
Bella Coola is located at the extreme end of the North Bentinck Arm, a fjord like body of water that empties into the Burke Channel. The Arm meets all the attributes of a fjord accept being too wide.
It does have all the beautiful scenery that can be found in fjords.
We woke up to a pea soup fog. With a 7:00 am departure. we were required to be on site and ready to board the ferry by 5:30 am.
Every vehicle, included big RVs had to back onto the ferry thus the 5:30 am arrival.
But we were rewarded for the early day with a beautiful sunrise as we departed Bella Coola.
It was a calm and sea sick free crossing to Port Hardy and our return home.
We will have a few weeks before we head out on our next bear adventure.
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