Taking the Great Bear Rainforest Circle tour
Credit to Author: Dave Pottinger| Date: Sat, 07 Sep 2019 14:55:37 +0000
“I see you already know about the Chilcotin Slap” grinned our genial host at Eagles Nest Resort on Anahim Lake. We were busily dancing and flailing our arms swatting clouds of mosquitoes that had descended.
Our stay at Anahim Lake was Day 3 of an 8-day, self-driving circular trip from Vancouver to Bella Coola and back down by ferry to Port Hardy and Naniamo. Hosting our relatives from England, who usually holiday in Europe, we were determined to show off our province with the ultimate of staycations. However, it was bears we wanted to see, not mosquitoes.
Based on a a BC Ferries travel package called The Great Bear Rainforest Circle Route, we drove in a counter clockwise direction, up the Sea to Sky highway across the Duffy Lake Road to Highway 97, north to Williams Lake and west on Highway 20 to Anahim Lake and Bella Coola.
At Anahim Lake we were surprised by the appearance of White American Pelicans. With a wing span of 9 feet, they are an impressive sight gliding in for a landing. The call of loons proved that they did exist beyond the back of our gold coloured coin. This area of the province is a bird watchers paradise.
Our adventure on Day 4 included the famous “gut-churning” section of Highway 20 called “Freedom Road” from just west of Anahim Lake to Bella Coola. A 20 km downhill gravel road hugs cliff faces with drop offs not for the feint of heart. The descent with grades of 18% goes down 1,828 meters with only 3 switchbacks from the Chilcotin Plateau to the Bella Coola Valley bottom.
With the government stalling on its participation of road building, the locals got fed up and built the road themselves in 1953 to connect Anahim Lake to Bella Coola by land. Shops in Bella Coola sell T-Shirts and postcards proclaiming “I survived The Hill”!
Petroglyphs in Bella Coola.
Highlights of our stay in Bella Coola included three tours arranged with Copper Sun Gallery, an Indigenous-run company.
Local guide Clyde Young of the Nuxalk Nation took us to the sacred site of the Petroglyphs. These rock carvings depicting animal and supernatural images are estimated to be 5,000 to 10,000 years old. The gentle pathway through the rainforest and alongside a creek is not signed on the main highway as this is considered a protected sacred site. Through song and story Clyde interpreted the many images we saw.
Another tour, led by Clyde, was of the various totem poles in and around the town of Bella Coola. From a Hereditary Chiefs House to the local school we saw and learned the meaning of many poles, including totem poles of reconciliation and acknowledgement of the painful impact of the Residential Schools.
Totem poles are frequent on the Great Bear Rainforest tour.
Our final tour was rafting down the river with our young guide Joe. The son of a Hereditary Chief, he is a masterful story teller and expert raft navigator. We were hoping that we might yet see some bears but we were a bit too early in the season (June) for that. However, by the time Joe had finished telling of his various bear encounters while hunting, fishing and mushroom picking, we were happy that we had avoided them!
On our 6thday we arrived at the ferry terminal at 6 am to board BC Ferries newest acquisition, the Northern Sea Wolf. Best described as a small boutique ship – holding only 35 cars and 150 passengers, it sails in the summer months between Port Hardy and Bella Coola. The return of this once cancelled ferry route is a welcome relief for the many tourism companies whose businesses rely on the ferry tourist traffic – especially tourists from Europe.
The comfortable ten-hour, non-stop journey travels along the Inside Passage. Ample room on the sun decks allowed for great viewing of the pods of dolphins that kept up alongside the boat for over a half hour. A humpback whale put on an acrobatic show with plenty of fin slapping and breaching. As we got closer to Port Hardy eagles swooped in front of the ferry.
Our last 2 days were spent exploring the northern part of Vancouver Island – staying at Port Hardy and Comox and taking a side trip to picturesque Telegraph Cove for lunch and a visit to the Whale Interpretive Centre.
And, we finally saw bears! An adult with two cubs just outside Telegraph Cove was a perfect ending to our day.
The trip took us through many small towns where we stopped to check out the local museums, art galleries, independent restaurants and shops. Perfect timing when we arrived in Lillooet to view the parade in celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21st.