May 22, 2026 – Prince Rupert to Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary
We came to see grizzlies and on the first day we saw eleven grizzlies in the sanctuary. We are in a very nice floating cabin just outside the park boundaries with gorgeous views of the snow capped mountains on each side of us. Each morning and afternoon we spend 3 hours on a small boat and head into the estuary to see the bears who have been protected in this area since 1995. Most are not concerned about us or the boats, so they just go about doing their business as if we weren’t there.
It was quite a great day – we saw a mom and small cub, saw grizzly bears digging and eating clams, courting and more, swimming, eating sedge (the high nutrition grass that holds them over till the salmon arrive), and then just being bears hanging out in their home. We stay fairly far away to not disturb them, so a telephoto is necessary to get up close. What a fun first day and now we are all tired. After a delicious meal of freshly caught salmon, we all downloaded our photos to prepare for another day of the same – go see grizzlies!
Emma and Phoebe – a mom and her cub (you can just see the ears behind mom in the grass)This is our floating lodge for the weekAnd our boat for finding grizzliesHere is us on the boat – looking for grizzliesWe found a male – Reuben – and a young 4-year old female digging clams together on the beach as the tide was coming inThey were both digging clams – they have the right size claws to be very effective – and a good nose to smell them. Our guide said their nose is like a metal detector just for clams.Reuben really got into it, literally up to his elbows to get those clams
There were crows hanging around picking up the extra clams that weren’t eaten
The young female did not seem that interested in Reuben and would sit on her hind end to get him to move on
After a long (?) courtship and a few tussles, they went into the woods and here they are afterward sort of snugglingAlexander is a much larger 11 year old full size grizzly – he didn’t care about anyone as he walked and ate the sedge with abandonThe estuary is just full of fresh new sprouts which the bears enjoy – Alexander was getting his fill after hibernating all winter, probably up in the protected mountains behind him.This is how close we are – there is a grizzly on the shoreline – from far away they can look like rocksOther times, they are the only brown color in a sea of green sedgePaws is another large male that was just doing his thing in the estuaryHere Paws is eating sedge, you can see his mouth open and chomping awayA close up of PawsWe got better using the binoculars to find them on the shorelineOur final bear as we were leaving was not excited to have us around, which is unusual. After seeing us he went straight back into the forest and we left him be. Later, the guides told us that he might be one of the bears with a broken jaw and so is a bit more skittish since he has a hard time eating
Siri and David Adventures 