Grizzly Bears!

Bell Lodge to Stewart 90 miles

The ride today was blissful. Just smooth paved mountain roads, sunny skies, and dozens of streams, and lakes. Mac and I left with the entire group after breakfast. We were warned to beware of bears in the road. I scanned both sides of the road all day but saw none. I'm getting desperate to see Grizz. It certainly won't be a successful trip to NW Canada without a Grizz sighting. When we arrived in Stewart we checked into the Ripley Creek Inn. During the mining era it was a brothel catering to miners who had nuggets. Today it's a quaint hotel complex built over a creek. We went to Fish Creek around 6 PM. We were told bears come to the creek this time of year to grab the salmon that are swimming up the river to spawn. Upon our arrival we saw a creek full of salmon fighting their way upstream. They had already come a long way by the time they got here and were obviously tired. Fortunately for them there were no bears tonight. Imagine spending your last few weeks on earth trying desperately to get back to the place you grew up, with the sole purpose of mating with your high school sweetheart, only to be eaten by a hungry bear a block from her waiting arms. Too tragic!
Most of our group came in hopes of seeing bears. After waiting for over two hours they left. I had brought a good book so I waited longer. As the sky was getting darker I saw something moving furtively upstream. The light was dim, but it might be a bear. I waited, camera ready as it came closer. It was soon evident that it was a medium sized Grizzly Bear! Finally!
I was on high ground above the creek and therefore no at risk. The included photos are not sharp because the low light caused my shutter to be open too long for a moving bear. When I used flash he was too far for that. If you review the photos you can see him pretty well. Once he got to the top of the creek a much larger Grizzly came out of the bushes from the top of the creek and chased the first one back down the stream. It was highly dramatic. My apologies for not having been able to photo it well. For me the best part was when the big bear left the creek to pass over the road and up into the forest. He passed right by where I'd parked my bike earlier. The photo shows how big an animal it was.
Tomorrow a helicopter to the glacier.