How to Visit Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest and Its Resident Grizzlies

Josie Sexton/Virtuoso

Sonora Resort, a short helicopter ride from Vancouver. This way towards a Homalco heritage tour. Spot grizzlies at every turn.

Sonora Resort Josie Sexton Sonora Resort

Start from the Discovery Islands deep within coastal British Columbia.

This story is part of our guide to traveling in Canada, created with support from Canada.  

I needed to look away from the grizzly lumbering below us on the riverbank. She was about 15 feet downstream, half eyeing the water’s surface, in no apparent hurry. I turned to our guide, Marselis, for signs of danger, but he didn’t budge. Eyes straight ahead, hands in pockets, he appeared calm, confident – reverent, even.  

As someone who lives in the American West, I’ve memorized my bear-country defenses: Travel in groups, pack a bear bell (or make a bit of noise), seal and store any food, and carry repellent as a last resort. Until that morning I’d never actually encountered a bear in the wild, save for one June day in the Grand Tetons, when a mysterious growl sent us backtracking toward the trailhead, and one fateful July night in Vermont, when my high beams caught a fuzzy figure before it retreated back into the woods. 

All the near-encounters I’d squeezed for tall tales mattered very little by the time this grizzly passed in front of me and just a handful of witnesses. She was simply uninterested in us humans, her bottomless salmon breakfast buffet enough to get on with. We’d arrived deep in Canada’s west coast fjords during the September salmon run on the traditional territories of the Homalco, Klahoose, K’ómoks, and other Coast Salish First Nations.  

The Great Bear Rainforest stretches over 250 miles up Canada's west coast. 

Josie Sexton

Marselis, a trained Homalco (Xwémalhkwu) land steward, led us through the forest to discover ten lone grizzly bears (xawges) as they waded, hunted, and sunned at various points along the Algard Creek and Orford River. As they emerged over the stretch of a single morning, so too did something within me. I’d learned to fear the unknown in Colorado’s backcountry, where grizzlies haven’t roamed for nearly half a century. But surrounded by the solitary creatures on British Columbia’s central coast, I discovered a level of solace. 

Here, more than half of Canada’s 26,000-strong grizzly population, a quarter of the country’s 400,000 or so black bears, and a dwindling yet sacred few hundred Kermode “spirit bears” outnumber humans tenfold. It’s not just their numbers that impress. Standing within feet of the predators in the aptly named Great Bear Rainforest, an instinct to witness and protect them takes over.

Arriving at this sort of aha moment requires a journey – in my case, a plane ride to Vancouver, a helicopter over the Strait of Georgia, and a motorboat from Sonora Island to Orford Bay, nearly halfway into the 50-mile-long Bute Inlet. My base camp for the adventure: Sonora Resort, an 88-room wilderness lodge nestled among the conifers and overlooking the Yuculta Rapids, where shifting tidal currents offer up rich fishing waters for gulls, herons, and large mammals – among them, resident harbor seals, sea lions, and migrant humpbacks. May through October, nature lovers come to Sonora for seclusion, outdoor play, and pampering. They come for leisurely meals of spot prawns and fresh-caught steelhead on the deck. And, of course, they come for bear-spotting. 

Walk the riverbanks for a grizzly meet-and-greet.

Sam Van Metre

The morning of our outing, we sped toward Orford Bay before the fog had lifted, our captain navigating a narrow passage through some of the world’s swiftest saltwater, the Arran Rapids, where ebbs and flows reach up to 15 knots per hour. Xwémalhkwu translates to “people of the fast-moving waters,” and at Orford Bay, Marselis lead us briefly through Indigenous Canadian history, over his tribe’s historic celebration grounds, past remnants of a nineteenth-century logging operation and fish hatchery.

Lime-colored lichen clings to red cedar, thriving in the temperate forest’s clean, humid air (the Homalco refer to the algae-fungi as “old man’s beard” and make teas and poultices from it). The area’s old-growth cedars carry healing properties too, according to Coast Salish First Nation peoples – Marselis advised sitting with our backs against the towering trees’ trunks in times of doubt or depression. Overhead, ravens act as symbiotic sentinels, announcing bears’ movements while scavenging for their scraps. When our group passed a hand-painted sign of the black bird that had been knocked over unceremoniously, Marselis knew the culprit: a taunting grizzly, he said, chuckling.

As we neared the convergence of two rivers, where bears have their pick of running salmon, the fog dissipated and a fall sun shone onto clear, rushing water. We arrived at a sheltered watchtower and readied tripods and camera lenses as dozens of salmon writhed and spawned below. Would a mother and cubs come along to feed? Or maybe the biggest male of the season might stop to feast? Moments passed, uninterrupted. 

It wasn’t until we were back on the ground, a hundred or so yards upriver, that we saw her, wading down the bank, scoping out a small pool not 15 feet below us. She pounced and ate and discarded on repeat, all within our close gaze. I don’t know if I expected her to display annoyance or anger at our presence, but the grizzly never signaled any threat. She looked lovely ahead of winter – sated, strong, and safe in a wilderness all her own. 

Dining with a view at Sonora Resort.

Sonora Resort

Doorway to the Rain Forest 

Guests at the 88-room Sonora Resort start their wildlife journeys during a short helicopter ride from Vancouver to Sonora Island. Depending on the time of year, they might see orca or humpback whales spouting in the Strait of Georgia. Sonora’s nature immersion starts immediately – watch for seals and sea lions in the harbor – and continues with hikes on surrounding forest trails and canoeing in nearby Florence Lake. But the real reason to visit: a mesmerizing waterfront vista and guided day trips that explore the best of the region. Spend a morning with Homalco guides spotting grizzlies at the southern end of the Great Bear Rainforest (August to October) or cruise the inlets on a sunny day searching for whales, eagles, and dolphins.

Your Grizzly adventure awaits....

Schedule a call

I help passionate travelers plan food, wine, and active adventures to unique destinations across the globe.