KatW

Next up — Nimmo Bay 2024 July/August for orcas.

threepointkid

Excited to have just booked 3 nights at Khutzeymateen with a buddy in August of 2024. My wife preferred to sit this one out and most likely be in Mexico with her girlfriend, but I am thrilled to have pulled the trigger on this one and to get to see the bears up close like this. I am grateful to the knowledge gleaned from this forum as always. Is anyone going any time soon? Would have loved to combine with Nimmo, but not feasible for this trip. Saving Nimmo for a future trip!

SanDiego1K

We spent 3 nights at Klahoose last week just prior to Labor Day. I recommend it but think it might be better to go a couple weeks later than us. We wanted to see grizzlies fishing for salmon. We saw 7 bears, one of whom caught a salmon. We were told we were there at the start of the season.

We flew in to Vancouver where we spent a couple nights. The food scene is amazing in Vancouver. Most people in our group at Klahoose drove to Lund, then took the boat to the resort. We flew from Vancouver (the south terminal) to Powell River. The resort had a driver pick us up and take us to Lund, allowing us time for lunch. I recommend Nancy's Bakery with a range of sandwiches and baked goods. Michael Buble owns a home close by and we saw an online picture of him in the bakery - but no live sightings for us.

We boarded the hotel boat for the one hour trip to Klahoose. A Swiss couple had flown to Klahoose from Campbell River. All the rest of us took the boat. The only person on our flight to Powell River was from Vancouver. Most of our fellow travelers were from Europe and were taking much longer trips, thus the car rentals. It's a beautiful ride to the lodge with gorgeous scenery thru the inlet. There are some houses along the shore line close to Lund but the further we went, the fewer we saw. There was almost no boat traffic.

The lodge was initially built to be a hunting and fishing lodge. The owner went bankrupt and the Klahoose Tribe bought it out of bankruptcy two years ago. The lodge is on First Nation land. The lodge is extremely comfortable. This was our third bear trip (more on that later) and it was the first to have large rooms with en suite facilities. It has several rooms in the building with the main facilities. There are three cabins. No price premium is charged for the cabins so we chose to have the spaciousness of a cabin. We had cabin 2 which had 2 bedrooms and a loft with 2 beds. It would be great if you are traveling with children, though there is only one bathroom and one sink. There was a mini kitchen with a sink and a refrigerator. There was a deck the length of the cabin with a beautiful view of the water. I recommend Cabin 1 if available.

There are some cultural aspects to the stay. We were greeted by drumming and singing both on arrival and departure. There was a sage ceremony one night.

There are 2 alternatives for stays, arriving on Sunday for 4 nights or Thursday for 3 nights. We chose the three night stay. Both have two days of taking a boat up the inlet, then going in search of bears. The 4 night stay has a day at the lodge where there are SUPs, kayaks, and the like. I was happy we chose 3 nights as for me the priority of the stay was seeing bears.

Our first day we saw several whales as we went north. It was a 75 minute ride to the logging camp that is on Indian land. We transferred to a small bus to go on logging roads to bear viewing platforms. There are six platforms along the river. The bus pulled up to the steps up to the platform. Our guide and our driver stepped out, looking all around for bears, making sure we were safe to leave the bus and hustle up the steps. We were cleared one by one. Each platform had benches so we could sit if we chose and await bears. There were trackers from the Klahoose Nation in touch with our guide. We saw beautiful scenery by no bears. The second day we were successful. We saw three bears cavorting in the water at our first stop. We saw a mama bear with 2 cubs on the road. And at our final stop, just as we were about to leave, we saw a bear named Scarface. He knew what he was doing as he trodded thru the stream, cornered a salmon, grabbed it, and went into the bush with it. Awesome.

My husband was satisfied with the trip. I would have liked to see more bears. And yes, I know seeing wildlife is not like going to a zoo. Nothing is guaranteed. I know there are places in Alaska where there are amazing bear sightings. I'm not sure where there are comfortable lodges in British Colombia where the bear population is denser than where we were. What we got was beautiful scenery, isolation, and comfortable lodging. There were just 12 people on our trip.

We have now gone on three bear trips. Each had a different purpose but I thought it might be interesting to compare them.

1. NatHab, Churchill, Canada - polar bears - there are only two companies who have permits to have lodges (long trailers) on the tundra. You have a bunk with a curtain separating you from the corridor and a bathroom down the hall. We had superb sightings of polar bears. Amazing. Someone else on FT took the same trip a few weeks later and saw no bears. The ice froze early that year and the bears headed out. There were two naturalists who gave talks each night that added a lot.
2. Khutzymateen, https://www.grizzlytour.com/, float plane from Prince Rupert - grizzlies - Canada's only grizzly bear protected area and this is the only lodge. It is on a dock and is pulled into position from Prince Rupert each spring. We had fantastic sightings of bears eating sedge grass, having just come out of hibernation. We took zodiacs out morning and afternoon. We were given expedition suits to wear and stayed warm thanks to them. Bathrooms were not private. We had the only ground floor room and it was just across from one of the bathrooms. Others had 2nd floor rooms and had to come down stairs to use the bathrooms.
3. Klahoose - by far and away the most comfortable lodging but also the weakest in terms of seeing bears. But then, again, did we go too early? After all, I rhapsodize about our polar bear trip and someone else saw no bears.

I'd love to hear from others who go in search of bears fishing from salmon. What was your experience? How many did you see? How was the lodging?

SanDiego1K

SanDiego1K

KatW


Thank you for that detailed review, SanDiego1K. As you know, in three weeks I am headed for five days to Tweedsmuir Park Lodge in the Great Bear Rainforest on the Atnarko River, about 650 miles north of Vancouver. Will fly to Bella Coola from Vancouver (overnight in Fairmont YVR so as to make it easy to hook up with the 10am flight from South Terminal) to be met by a shuttle for the hour-long drive to the lodge. Naturally their website is very optimistic about seeing bears. There is a riverside viewing platform on the property as well as twice daily floats/drifts on the river. There are other activities as well (via Ferrata anyone?) including nature hikes, mountain hikes, First Nation cultural experiences. I’ll check in here upon my return. You thought you were too early for bear viewing. I’m worried I’ll be too late. Wish me lots of bears!

SanDiego1K — did you see lots of eagles? Other birds? I’m hoping for good birding as well as bearing.

SanDiego1K

We are not birders but a couple from Cambridge, UK, were. They spent two days in Powell River happily birding and spotted more on our trip. I wasn't paying attention to their success but think they were content.

tdiddy23

How was the food/service at Khaloose? I'm wondering if it's worth a trip for locals earlier season without a bear focus.

glad you saw at least one fishing bear! As far as other locations, there's knight inlet, great bear lodge. I am not sure how their numbers compare or fishing experience. Tweedsmuir mentioned above. Nimmo Bay conceivably but not really their focus, very comfortable though. A lux fishing (for people not bears) lodge a bit inland, tsylos lodge, seems to have branched out into bear viewing. Stewart/hyder (not comfortable). I have never looked into Alaska much but brooks falls looks hard to beat from a bear fishing perspective, shame about the crowds of people.

KatW if early season now I doubt you will be too late. Fingers crossed for you. And I am sure you will see loads of eagles

KatW

Canadian Wilderness Lodges: https://www.mapquest.com/travel/the-...ats-in-canada/

FYI, I would not cross the street to stay at Clayoquot. [Caveat: hyperbole] I did once book there but canceled after further research, plus personal issues. There is a Canadian luxury travel firm that can recommend and organize special trips: Entree Destinations. They might do Alaska as well. Nimmo still is on my dance card but not for bears, rather orcas and sea mammals, not to mention their spectacular setting.

SanDiego1K

Food was good not great. I thought breakfast was only adequate. We had box lunches on bear sightseeing days. We ate on the dock by the boat at the lumber camp. Dinner was better with 3 courses each day. Food restrictions needed to be conveyed before your visit so they could provision properly. They said they had a lot of locals during Covid who wanted more of a sense of freedom.

I was impressed that the property charges no single supplement. There were two singles on our trip. I had looked at a different property when our niece was going to be with us. The single supplement made the stay eye wateringly expensive. Pricing was attractive here with a per person rate irrespective of number in party and whether you chose a room in the lodge or one of the cabins.

tdiddy23

Thanks for this. I will run the numbers next year and see, sounds like if in dire need of local R&R splurging on return to Nimmo would make more sense

KatW

Any experience with Sointula Lodge? I am considering it as an alternative to Nimmo in August 2024.
https://sointulalodge.com

tdiddy23

Don't know much about it. I do know a knowledgable destination expert you could ask (gear up adventures). There are a couple places around northern Vancouver Island desolation sound who could give you a nice marine watching trip, but not really luxury focused.

From looking at their website I don't think its really in the same league as Nimmo Bay. Nimmo along with fogo Island are probably the finest two luxury properties in Canada. It's expensive but I didn't feel like it was bad value, and I often do non luxury trips.

KatW

My Tweedsmuir Lodge (Bella Coola) review: Tweedsmuir Park Lodge in B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest — A Review and Commentary

tdiddy23 — There are more luxe lodges in Canada than you may be aware of, e.g., Chilko, etc. https://www.chilkoexperience.com/

My go-to agency for super Canada experiences is Entree Destinations.