There's A Bear in There...

The landscape down the Inside Passage is breathtaking: the long narrow fjord we sailed through for a whole day has given way to a multitude of islands, alternately shrouded in winding sheets of fog, or bathed in sunshine. The air is cold but it’s very pleasant. The mountains are lower now the further south we travel, and the trees are changing, the dominant Sitka spruce and Western hemlock being overtaken by cedars, firs, pines, larch and alders, amongst many others. The species change but the patterns on the mountain sides stay the same – ordered ranks of varying shades of deep green, Christmas tree shapes, so very different to what we’re used to at home.

We kayaked for the first time in a lovely sheltered anchorage. Had to get togged up in just our thermals under waterproof pants and jacket, feet in thick socks and kayaking boots, which we’d brought with us. Warm but not too warm. The kayak looked very tippable and the water looked very cold, but after a brief lesson up on deck in how to get in, we managed to get into the kayak in the water without getting even slightly damp. What a wonderful way to travel, sliding across the water with (almost) a minimum of effort. Makes us wish our rivers weren’t so full of crocodiles… It’s lovely seeing the landscape from sea level rather than the deck of the boat. We did it again the following day in another beautiful anchorage, and saw sea stars, ochre stars, huge multi-legged sun stars, colourful sea urchins and anenomes. A harbour seal came to investigate us.

In the evening we were given an idea of where totem poles might have originated, when the water was still as glass, and the reflections along the shoreline were clear. Exquisite patterns.

But, it was inevitable. We would have to go ashore. Walking. On land. In BEAR country.

It reminds me of a fairy tale I once heard...

  
I don’t mind admitting that bears scare me.  Maybe I was frightened by a teddy when I was small. More likely it’s that damn book I read on board about first-hand experiences of being eaten by bears that’s done it. When the Catalyst anchored off Village Island, and Shannon piled us into the dinghy for a trip ashore, I was nervous. Just a bit. I stood on the beach, and looked around, and thought, at least I can see them coming out here - and they don't swim, do they? 


Then we turned inland, through bushes, pushing our way up a narrow little path between very tall berry bushes of various kinds, blackberries, thimble berries, all kinds of berries. Bear food. We were walking through a bear SUPERMARKET! My brain kept yelling at me – “This path was made by BEARS you IDIOT!!” Shannon was calling out ‘Hey Bear! Hey Bear! We’re just visiting!’ to let any bears know we were around, so they wouldn’t be surprised and possibly pissed off. This didn't really calm my nerves much. Then we found a bear footprint. Not a big one, a middle sized one. Which begged the question that Papa Bear and Baby Bear were around somewhere, probably picking bits of Goldilocks out of their teeth.

 

All that remains of a Village gathering house

Shannon explaining an old abandoned Totem pole

Before any bears did appear, we arrived at the site of the old village, where some houses are still standing, in a manner of speaking. We climbed up into one to see the most perfect view anyone could wish for out of a window, with the added bonus of three baby swiftlets perched on a rail waiting for their mum to come back with dinner. I was relieved to see them – proof that bears didn’t venture into the houses. The houses, fast falling into ruin, are all that’s left of a once busy First Nation village. Times and commerce changed, and
everyone left to find work in the bigger towns. The blackberries and the alders have taken over the 
 structures, and the only one left standing of any significance is the ceremonial one in this photo – built of huge old tree trunks – and an ancient Totem pole abandoned on a rise above the beach, now covered in moss and fungus and returning to the earth.

Mountain lions? No one mentioned MOUNTAIN LIONS!!

And then, to really bring home the nature of the place, was this signboard we found at the end of the beach…  I rest my case. Give me crocodiles any day.

View from the ruined house

Baby swiftlets in the house