The lake is about 65 km long, with a southwest arm 10 km long. It was surreal to be the only human in sight at such a huge lake.
At 1,175 m (3,855 ft) elevation, Chilko Lake at the head of the Chilko River on the Chilcotin Plateau is the largest natural, high-elevation freshwater lake in Canada. There wasn't a single human anywhere near or at the lake all day. It was quiet in the way I love it in the fall. There were no machinery sounds or civilization sounds. I could only hear the birds calling. Fall colors were near their peak with mountains in every direction. There was little to no wind and temps were in the low 70's.
The lake is about 65 km long, with a southwest arm 10 km long. It was surreal to be the only human in sight at such a huge lake.
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A float trip down the Atnarko River in Bella Coola, BC with Fraser Koroluk, lead guide and owner of Kynoch West Coast Adventures. This sow had two cubs who quickly scurried off before we could photograph them, but mom hung around and was a delight to watch. She became alerted and concerned for a period of time and left the shore to check on her cubs. We think she may have known some black bears were in the area that we saw fairly soon after we spent time with her. Black Bears "Fraser Koroluk is founder and owner of Kynoch Adventures and along with being lead river guide is also a Professional Biologist active in Pacific Salmon and Grizzly Bear conservation, habitat protection, and habitat inventory and compensation work throughout BC's central coast areas of the Great Bear Rain Forest." ~ Kynoch West Coast Adventure's website
The Klahoose First Nation own the land and partner with the bear guiding companies. The boat ride is about 2.5 to 3 hours from Campbell River, British Columbia, up to the Toba Inlet and the scenery is nothing short of spectacular. We went over a 100 nautical miles (RT) to access the rivers that were teeming with salmon. You can see schools of fish swimming up river, which draws grizzlies every day through out the salmon run. The fish floating downstream would make talented U-turns to meet up with other fish swimmng up river. It was fascninating to watch. We saw an eagle, hawks, blue herons, seagulls, and many other birds sharing the rivers with the bears. On the way back to the dock, we saw two humpback whales with calves and a couple other whales. They put on a stunning show. My camera's battery was exahusted and I'd lost my back up battery in packing. I captured a little of the whales on my phone. The map shows Campbell River with the green pin where we boarded the boat and the red pin where we ended at Toba Inlet. After we landed, we took a small bus to the various points along the river where the bears come to dine on salmon. Once parked, we walked up to small platforms above the river to view and photograph the bears and wildlife. Along the way, there were islands that jutted out of the sea so steep that it would challenge the bravest of rock climbers. The rocky landscape gave a sharp and beautiful contrast to the towering trees and undergroth that covered every square inch when rocks weren't prominent. Layers upon layers of mountains gave us the most beautiful back drop in varying shades of gray silhoettes. The lightest shades of gray were the mountain ranges furthest away. All eleven of us were photographing bears on the river when I turned around and saw this grizzyly lumbering up the road toward us and the river. When he came to a fork in the road, he went right and we were hoping to catch sight of him on the road above the river, but he took a different route. This time of year, the bears conserve every ounce of energy preparing for hibernation. Every calorie expended is precious. The water is fed from Glaciers, which gives it this interesting green tone.
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BEST VIEWED ON A COMPUTER AND NOT A PHONE.
Betsy SeetonNavigating life Archives
May 2023
“In a forest of a
hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” ~ Paulo Coelho Categories
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