Home»All Photographs»2014 Hikes»Heather Ridge 09-27-14

Clayton, Peter J. and Myself went to the Skoki area for a visit to Heather Ridge today.
We biked the first portion to Temple Lodge, then hid our bikes in the bush and hiked from there. The 50 minute bike ride up the service road probably didn't save us any time compared to hiking, but the 7 minute ride down sure did!
The fall colors were striking, and as we gained Heather Ridge, we looked down upon thousands of golden yellow larches peppered across the terrain near Redoubt Lake.
Clayton and I ascended a small promontory with a bit of hands on scrambling at the north end of the ridge. From there, I noticed two dark brown masses moving about the sparse trees below. It was a large mother grizzly bear and her two year old cub. The cub had attractive coloration, with silver-grey shoulders and torso, and brown head and rump. The mother was dark brown all over. They both looked fat and ready for hibernation.
After lunch at the south end of the ridge, we descended a scree slope and circled back toward the bears, keeping and eye out for them in the open terrain. As we approached the area, we again saw the bears, and gave them a wide berth as we stopped to admire them (about 300 metres away). We called out to announce our presence, but aside from a quick glance, the bears were indifferent to us. Watching such powerful, beautiful creatures acting their natural way was the highlight of the day.