After a brief night in Vancouver, followed by one and a half days traveling (around 12 hours driving in total), stopping en route at a great guest lodge in the pioneer town of Riske Creek we finally arrived in Bella Coola, sadly the last location of our trip.
It is here in Bella Coola that we will again focus our efforts on Grizzly Bears and hopefully Bald Eagles. As we descended into the valley via a steep and slightly nerve racking mountain pass we could see below us the Atnarko River. Alongside Bute and Knight Inlet this part of Tweedsmuir Provincial park is renowned for its Grizzly population in BC and where many of the shots of Grizzlies fishing along salmon spawning channels have been taken in Canada.
There are at least three Salmon species commonly found in the Atnarko, Coho, Pink Salmon, and the larger Chinnock Salmon. The latter being the favourite among the Grizzly bears. In addition other species such as Sock Eye are also found.
After stocking up with food in the local town (around thirty minutes away) we headed off to settle into our cabin, which would be our home for the next five nights.
On arrival it felt as if we had ‘died and gone to heaven’. The basic fisherman’s cabin that we would stay in was way better than we had expected. Surrounded by mountain peaks in excess of 8000ft our self catering cabin sat in the grounds of a beautiful lodge, enclosed by long grass meadows that ran all the way down toward the river itself. Just the previous day a Grizzly Bear sow was spotted resting just metres from where our cabin was located. We had everything we needed to be totally self sufficient and it sounded like we could even have bears on our doorstep! It would be quite easy to stay here forever and could only wish that we more than five nights here.
However, despite a long drive there was no time to relax yet, all the time there was daylight ‘operation bear’ was on!
Just 1.5km away there is a purpose built bear viewing station, whilst its sounds a little ‘artificial’ this station has sadly become a necessity due to a few previous incidents that have compromised both the safety of the bears and humans where. Sadly it only takes one incident by someone lacking respect for wildlife that means rules have to change and control has to be instigated.
It ‘sits’ much lower than those stands we had seen in Bute Inlet so was potentially going to be much better from a photography perspective (the lower the perspective the better for getting an ‘animals eye view’). The station, open from 7am - 7pm overlooks a total distance of around 0.75km of the Atnarko River, both up and downstream where the river is shallow and full of spawning salmon and those who continue their quest further upstream. There is certainly plenty of room at the viewing station with a low fence and guarded by an armed ranger at all times.The ranger also on hand to answer any questions with regard to bear and other endemic wildlife behaviour that can be seen.
It was great to talk to other photographers at the viewing stand and listen to stories of previous encounters and sightings. Of course It did not take long to hear the immortal words no wildlife enthusiast or photographer wants to hear! “you should have been here yesterday, we had five Grizzly bears all in the river at the same time”! Well, we were sure that our time would come, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow or even on this trip perhaps but at some point we would get to see more Grizzlies!
We again heard stories that this year the bear viewing had been very slow and less bears in numbers in contrast to previous years, despite a good Salmon run this year. The potential reasons for less sightings are said to have been caused for an additional reason to those on the previous post.
Last year, at this same time Bella Coola suffered what has been described by most locals as a catastrophic flood. The river rose to record levels, many houses and cabins were swept away for good. It was described as the 200 year flood. People were evacuated, roads were washed out and the river burst its banks at many places, then becoming blocked by huge trees that came down in the flood. The evidence of these floods can be seen all across the Bella Coola valley. The terrible flood has potentially had a huge onward effect to the bears. The berry season had already passed and the river was just too high for them to fish and therefore they effectively missed over one month of vital feeding time ready for winter hibernation. Many bears reportedly died and it has been said that this also affected cub populations to. The concern is that it could also have a huge ongoing effect beyond 2011. The floods not only affected the bear population but also washed away many of the eggs laid by the salmon during spawning, the extent to which this will affect the salmon run for 2012 and 2013 has not yet been determined but it is widely concluded that there will potentially could be some knock on effects with regard to the populations of all salmon species and the ‘run’ next year.
Sure enough our patience at the viewing stand paid off, not long before the station closed a dark shadow appeared downstream, right at the end of where you could view before the Atnarko curved around the bend. A huge male swaggered along the river, suddenly storming into the water and causing a splash in an effort to secure the best and biggest salmon in order to increase his bulk and food reserves before the winter. We all waited for him to come further upstream to allow us to take photographs. The light was dropping fast but this was a sight to be in awe of and Andy managed to get one shot of this awesome guy (see below). He was absolutely huge and had part of his left ear missing and he was clearly the local ‘bruiser’, exuding an air of arrogance and confidence. Not a bear you would want to mess with!
We stood and watched him as he focused on catching fish. He was not at all bothered by the human presence up above at the platform, whom by now had grown to quite a crowd. He travelled the length of the river that was within in our view and almost on cue at 7pm, just as the viewing platform closed he disappeared again around the corner.
Big Boy Grizzly
Poised and waiting for bears!
Salmon
Atnarko River
Flood damage
Stunning backdrop to the Atnarko River
Our Cabin
Cabin interior - Kitchen on the right
View from the cabin
Viewing stand looking upstream
Viewing stand looking downstream
The station appears a little too close to the river to let the bears pass by freely. Could it not be a bit further back to let the bears pass?
ReplyDeleteThe viewing stand is actually a lot higher up from the river than it appears on the picture and therefore raised above their feeding areas. In all honesty we would say that this is actually one of the least invasive ways to view wildlife in the area. When a bear appears everyone remains quiet and very respectful which is good so not to disturb them.
ReplyDeleteIn addition the bears have over 10 kilometres of river to fish from in addition to this small area around the stand. The stand helps to keep the viewers in a controlled place as opposed to spreading the viewing along the river which is far more invasive and harder to control. This in the past has caused unnecessary stress to the bears and as a result the stand was built. Basically the bears are free to go where there like and take very little notice of the stand and continue to feed normally.
I own a cabin on north side of the Bella Coola BC river. Because it is on the north side, at base of Four Mile Mountain, across from north Grant Road Dean End on south side, only way to cabin is by boat. I would consider letting others go there, however, due to liabilities of the wilderness environment, a signed waiver is mandatory. Questions - mrabb@suddenlink.net Great fishing at isolated cabin that is only three miles east of Bella Coola Villiage Town.
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