Day 34 – Bears! Oh My!


Watching for wildlife as we travel is another or our favorite activities, as the miles roll away. Bears are one of the animals that we, and most other travelers up north, are hoping to catch a glimpse of. While we didn’t have any close encounters this trip, other than in the truck, we did see twenty black bears and two grizzlies throughout the trip. I started to keep a tally sheet after the first day when we lost track.

Most of those sightings were along the Cassiar and Yellowhead Highways in northern British Columbia. Sometimes the bears were sitting in the bushes alongside the road, other times they were crossing the road. And like we mentioned in an earlier post, bear poo piles alongside the road were indicators that they were in the area, so we'd watch carefully.

Typically, the bears, whether black or grizzly, were eating leaves and grass, like this fella who just plopped down to munch on the tufts around him.

One misconception about bears is that they mainly eat meat. Actually, we found out that they primarily have a diet of vegetation until the salmon runs begin. At that, the bears are evidently kind of picky about the species of fish they eat. Grizzly bears really have a preference for Coho salmon, they don’t even bother with Chum salmon.

Most of the campgrounds do have the “Be Bear Aware” or “Bear Activity in Camp” signs. However, we didn’t encounter any bears while camping. Our backcountry training with Scouts ingrained the practice of having a clean (food products or containers stored away) camp, so there is no reason for the bruins to visit us.
We were saddened on our return trip down the Cassiar to see a bear that had been hit by a vehicle laying on the shoulder. Some people drive so fast on those roads which have many blind corners and hilltops, there wouldn’t be time to stop for an animal. Unlike deer that do tend to leap onto roads, bears typically just amble along.


So, we watch as we roll along, hoping to see these furry creatures, as well as preventing a hazardous collision with one.

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