This past September I was excited to be back in the Great Bear Rainforest and in Gitga’at Territory guiding a family off the spectacular Pacific Yellowfin, a World War Two era coastal freighter owned and operated by Captain Collin Griffinson. Collin first hired me to guide off the boat years ago when he brought his new charter business up to the North Coast. There are few places in the world that I would rather be in the fall than looking for wildlife in the Great Bear Rainforest. At this time of the year wild pacific salmon enter the river and supercharge the coastal ecosystem as they return to their natal rivers to spawn. Over 200 hundred different inhabitants of the temperate rain forest depend on the return of these salmon for their survival. Grizzly, Black and Spirit Bears all head to the rivers in September to hunt for salmon, eating as much as they can to fatten up before hibernation. Coastal Wolves, Wolverines and Mountain Lions are some of the big predators that can be found lurking around salmon streams, sometimes side by side with the bears. In one of the rivers on Princess Royal Island I once saw a wolf on one end of a log and a black bear on the other end of a log, pretty much side by side, both looking into the river for salmon before my presense scared the wolf upriver.

This was also my twenty fifth year as a wildlife, fishing and paddleboarding guide in the Great Bear. After quitting my teaching job in northern Ontario I moved west to get my outdoor guiding certifications and found myself hired by King Pacific Lodge as their new wilderness guide with responsibilities including sea kayaking, bear viewing, whale watching, fishing and hiking. Fast forward 25 years later and after countless hours and trips guiding clients from around the world it felt like I was back home.

Our trip departed from the coastal community of Kitimaat and took us south towards Hartley Bay, the community I was adopted into by Eva Hill back in 2006. It was great to catch up with friends and family. The following morning we connected with my friend and Spirit Bear viewing Gitga’at Guide Marven Robinson. I always love spending time guiding with Marven, he and I have shared a lot of time together over the years looking for bears. He knows these spirit bears in his territory better than anyone and is always gracious with his time and his sharing of stories. Wildlife viewing is unpredictable and it’s a big challenge to try to produce a spirit bear day after day. Although the river was full of pink salmon and conditions looked about perfect, we spent most of the day waiting for a bear to come out without luck. Even when I don’t see a bear the peace, serenity and connection you feel sitting by a salmon stream in the fall is a gift in itself.

Our journey took us further south on Princess Royal Island where we spent time watching Humpback Whales. The return of whales to this part of the world has been nothing short of incredible. Our friends at Cetacea Lab have documented well over 500 individuals that call this area home for the season., identified by taking pictures of their individualistic tail flukes. Once hunted to the brink of extinction these majestic and gentle giants have returned in great numbers to their traditional feeding grounds here in the north pacific. They tend to love the steep walled fiords found on this part of our coastline which help them communicate and corral food. We spent a morning watching close to fifteen of them in close proximity lunge feeding on huge schools of copepods (plankton) that were on the surface. We could see humpbacks breaching, rolling and tail fluking everywhere. After a visit to sea lion rock and the whale research station, Cetacea Lab, Captain Colin re positioned the Yellowfin back over the east side of the island and deep into the larger mainland rivers of British Columbia home to the mighty Grizzly Bear.

We spent a night anchored in one of the most beautiful inlets at the base of a majestic waterfall that cascades from the snowfields high above us. The following morning we took a small zodiac and followed the high tide up the river. Bald Eagles were everywhere, scavenging on dead salmon and it didn’t take long to spot a Mother Grizzly bear and her cub walking the river’s edge in search of salmon.

“To see a mother grizzly ambling and loafing with her cubs across the broad, hospitable bosom of a flower-spangled mountain meadow is to see life in true wilderness at it’s best.” – Andy Russell, Grizzly Country.

This particular inlet, in Kitasoo territory has some of the highest concentrations of grizzly bears found anywhere on the coast. And by the end of the morning and as the tide began to drop we had viewed six different bears all feeding on salmon along the rivers edge. One large bear we watched neck deep in the river picking dead salmon off the bottom with his dexterous claws, consuming while floating lazily in the pool. We all loved the show and felt fortunate to be watching these large apex predators feeding in their natural environments. I could watch these bears all day, they are fascinating and have so much to teach us.

On our final full day on the boat we motored north back into Gitga’at territory to see if we could find a Spirit Bear. Marven was having a busy day on the bear viewing stands but said if we could wait and come in later in the afternoon we could spend a few hours with him hoping to catch a sighting of the elusive white bear. I thought the timing would be perfect as the large groups who were on the stands all day would be making their way out of the river as we were heading in. We finally got the call to come in and after walking along the elevated trail above the salmon stream and connecting with Marven and his guides we settled down to wait. The river was full of salmon but the forest was quiet. I look to the birds of the rainforest to help me figure out the movement of large predators. It wasn’t long before the bird activity ramped up. A Great Blue heron floated silently up the river before landing to fish, a pair of Ravens cawed and cajoled as they headed downstream, a Belted Kingfisher deftly caught a small trout in one of the small, clear pools and the noisy Stellar’s Jay pranced from tree branch to rivers edge. The was an energy building and something seemed different.

My guess was that a Spirit Bear was nearby but then across the river a wolf pack started to howl. I called Marven right away as he was further down river, he could hear them as well. Sometimes when wolves are in a river system they will scare Black Bears and even Grizzly Bears away but I have also observed a wolf and a bear standing on a log together while looking for salmon in the river. Wolf packs will also kill bears if they deem them a threat to their young or their territory. So I wasn’t sure what to expect in the next hour or so but shortly after the howling a black bear made its way down river and directly across from where we were sitting, fishing for pink salmon. Then we got a report from one of our guides about a black bear down at the ocean starting to make its way upriver. Then a second black bear sauntered down river and just as that bear was fishing his way out of sight the ghosts appeared. Six coastal rainforest wolves appeared on the other side of the river and just up from where we were sitting. The alpha stared directly at us. We couldn’t believe it, they crossed the river to our side, fifty yards above us. Then the wolves that had just crossed started howling and back came the howling reply of the rest of the pack that were still on the other side of the river. Judging by the howls there were a lot of wolves in the full pack including pups and I estimated at least a dozen. It seemed like the pack that had just crossed the river was trying to communicate to the rest of the pack to come over. A lone wolf appeared on the other side of the river twenty yards away, had a quick look at the salmon going by and then saw us and bolted back into the forest. Just as we were recovering from that experience the black bear that was most likely the one our guide saw at the ocean was now making its way up river, yet just down from where we were. When the bear was almost across from us it stopped dead in its tracks, lifted its head and scrambled into the forest. It had caught scent of the nearby wolves and disappeared. The howling back and forth between the pack started again, the wolves were so close yet we could not see them. And then from our side of the river four of the original members including the alpha came back into the river. The alpha kept his eye on us as another one scrambled to grab a salmon in the river. Not only had we heard and witnessed a wolf pack in the river, we were able to watch a wolf fish and catch a salmon. With a salmon in his mouth the four of them bounded up river before disappearing around the corner to most likely meet up with the rest of the pack who never crossed over to our side. We all looked at each other in disbelief before heading out of the river and back down to the ocean. Under a setting sun we headed back to the Yellowfin for diner. No doubt the river came alive after the large groups of bear viewers left. Our group was small and quiet and even though the wolves were well aware of us they were at least comfortable enough for some of them to come into the river to fish.

A big thanks to Marven Robinson for facilitating this experience for us. I have spent countless hours with Marven over my past 25 years bearviewing in this river and I have never heard or seen a wolf but our timing after the other groups left and just before sundown brought the whole river alive and provided an spectacular experience.