Camping in bear country: an ode to mountains and mates

During our first camping trip in Canada, in Spring 2021, we swam, we hiked, we learned the beauty of a ‘rec site’ and the cautionary tale from Moonshine; on a trip only possible because of the kindness of our new friends. But did we encounter a bear?

Ready to burst with glee

When we arrived – in our friend Lindsay’s car, which she had generously lent us as ours was not up to the journey – at the ‘rec site’ camp ground I was feeling levels of excitement that you rarely experience as an adult.

The idea of three nights in the wilderness, camping and hiking with friends, beside a mountain lined lake and, miraculously, in some glorious spring sunshine, was a fantastic prospect.

I was not alone in being ready to burst with glee. Nova, the Aussie-Shepherd in the car in front, was so overwhelmed that she showed the total abandonment that I was close to displaying, jumping clean out of our friend Marcus’ car window when we pulled up at the ‘rec site’ that was to be our home for the weekend.

Having introduced Nova, our excitable canine friend, I’ll take a moment to introduce the other characters who are a part of this tale, as they will feature in many more of the adventures that I will share.

The other characters

Courtney, is a true adventurer who is equal parts terrifying – her idea of bear protection is to carry a stick for shoving somewhere unpleasant – and kindness – her previous adventures have taken her to a Greek Island where she spent time helping refugees.

Lindsay, like the flowers tattooed on her upper arm, is sweet – we often lose her on the trail because she’s off, like a Woodland Imp, chasing the hint of Morel mushrooms – but wild – she’s been known to instigate vodka shots during an otherwise civilised dinner party.

James is unique in being the only person I know who is as comfortable with machines as he is in the wilderness. He actually understands how the internet works but he also befriends crows, has hiked some of the world’s great trails and travelled to more countries than anyone I know.

Marcus, is the master of calm and the understated architect of fun. Always unperturbed by a challenge whether it’s stamping bears, back-country-born locals checking he knows a figure of eight knot (during a car-stuck-in-mud rescue mission) or drinking Jäger from a toy sword.

These are the friends Jacob and I have been lucky enough to stumble upon and make our Canadian family and I was excited about our first camping trip together.

I was a little nervous

As is so often the case with excitement though, I was a little nervous too. Somehow, despite hiking most weekends, I had yet to encounter a bear, even from a car window.

Everyone else had, Jacob had seen a few while out running, Marcus was endlessly meeting them in his job as an Arborist and Courtney, BC born and bred, had grown up around them.

We were now in Grizzly Bear country and tonight I’d be laying down my head with nothing more than two sheets of nylon between us and them.

No room for lazy camping

Tents up and fingers warmed by the fire pit, we reheated the PB Sausage Stew which I had made the day before; our contribution to the plan that each couple would provide an evening meal during the weekend.

Outside of Canada, it may have been tempting to leave the hideous pot with caked on stew to be washed tomorrow. But there is no room for lazy camping in bear country! Everything had to be washed and dried, removing all traces and smells of food from the area we were sleeping, so as not to attract bears to our site during the night!

Where the forest meets the lake

A ‘Rec Site’ is a little different to your typical privately run campsite site and can probably be best described as Wild Camping in a place you are encouraged to be.

This particular ‘rec site’ was maintained by BC Parks. While there is no water or electricity in these remote locations, there is a pit toilet in a small wooden hut. Most importantly, there are a few ‘pitches’: small, flat clearings in the forest, each one boasting its own picnic bench and a fire pit.

To get to this hidden ‘rec site’ we drove east from Prince George into the Rocky Mountains, before making our way down a long forestry road. At the end of which, hidden away, where the forest meets the lake, was our rec site paradise.

Happiness of camp life

Protecting ourselves from unwanted visits from a bear did not end with washing the stew pot immediately after eating.

We also removed all items with an enticing smell, such as lip salve, tooth paste or sun cream, from our pockets and the tent; before carefully placing the bear spray within reach and zipping up the door.

I had expected to feel anxious, to lie there wide-eyed unable to sleep. But once inside I felt the familiar coziness and happiness of camp life and was asleep within a few minutes.

‘Yes! No Bear Attacks!’

Of course my first thought when I woke up was, ‘Yes! No Bear Attacks!’ Shortly followed by a marvel at how warm I had been in the sleeping bags and sleeping pads we had borrowed from Courtney and James.

I unzipped the tent to be greeted with the appealing sight of a fire pit already ablaze with a porridge pot bubbling on it. Jacob had been busy!

Beyond the fire, a jagged grey mountain, which still had a good dusting of snow over it, was bursting above the bright green trees.

Green cross code of toilet exiting

Waking to the smell of a campfire wafting into your tent, unzipping and looking up to a snowy mountain surrounded by new spring leaves; is all very majestic, but let’s face it the first thing on your mind while scrambling out of a tent is always the toilet.

By this point I had developed a new way to leave a campsite toilet, as opening the door and strolling out un-alert might mean walking right into the path of a bear. Instead I stepped out, paused, and looked both ways.

I think of it as the green cross code of toilet exiting: open the door, stop, look and listen for bear traffic, then proceed!

When people say that being ‘bear aware’ makes you more attuned to what is happening in nature they normally mean knowing which way the wind is blowing encase you need to use your bear spray; not lingering extra long by a stinky bog to take in your surroundings! But it all amounts to the same thing.

The cool water was an easy choice

Teeth brushed and toothpaste not spat into a nearby bush for obvious reasons, we set off for a hike along Kinbasket Lake. Which is not actually a lake, but a reservoir which was created by the building of the Mica Dam. There was once a lake, called Kinbasket, at this site named after a chief of the Shuswap people.

Lake or reservoir, either way, it was beginning to look very inviting as the spring day got hotter and hotter. After walking along the edge of the reservoir for about an hour, we had to choose between scrambling over rocks to continue our hike or taking a dip in the water.

In the heat, with the ever present, always hidden, threat of an animal that would be far more nimble over rocks than us, the cool water was an easy choice.

For most of us anyway, two of us (the sane ones who dislike cold water), mostly just watched the others swimming in their private, reservoir spa which came complete with a dense, dark green forest and a row of marbled mountains for a backdrop.

A gentle paddle on the reservoir

Later that afternoon we returned to the lake, this time taking James and Courtney’s Alpacka Boats. Alpackas or Packrafts, are small inflatable boats which are immensely durable and lightweight. This allows people to carry them long distances, with other gear when hiking, meaning they can through-hike with a combination of travelling over water and land.

This is known as Portaging, but on this occasion they would only be used for a gentle paddle on the reservoir in the afternoon sunshine. When Lindsay and I took a turn in the Alpackas, we paddled out towards the middle of the channel and immediately our perspective of the magnificent scenery shifted.

Being on the water, we were able to see far more of the long line of mountains which stretched along the opposite shore, each with their own unique jagged peak dazzlingly white in the cloud-less sky.

We all reached for our bears sprays

The spring heat ramped up further still for our final day. But, full of energy from the delicious Mexican feast Marcus and Lindsay had fed us the previous evening, we decided to tackle the accending track to the start of a mountain trail.

The higher we rose the more mountains we could see and we were able to appreciate their angular peaks much better as we gained height. Worryingly, along with the mountains, bear scat was increasingly visible as we hiked further from the noisy logging road into the quiet forest.

We each had bear spray, but six people chatting goes a long way in eliminating the possibility that a bear won’t hear you coming, leading to the dangerous situation where you startle it. With warning, from humans chatting, bear bells or just calling out to let them know you are there, Black Bears, in particular, commonly make themselves scarce.

Nova, running ahead up the path and crashing through the bushes, was also useful for alerting bears to our presence and, potentially, for giving us early warning if she saw one.

Only once did Nova put us on our guard: she was gone for a while and we heard her barking at something. At which point we all reached for our bear sprays, waiting for the moment that she came running out, aware that bears are sometimes lead back to people by dogs.

But all was well, we did not see whatever it was that Nova had scared away, she proudly rejoined the pack she had been defending and we walked on, admittedly taking a few extra backward glances.

Try the ‘Sex in the Woods’

For our final evening we heaved beers, root vegetables and a bottle of homemade Moonshine down to the reservoir for a special fire-cooked, lake-side dinner under the mountains.

I set up a bar (which is a generous term for a few bottles and beers lined up in the sand) and some of the others braved the water for a dip before returning to dry themselves by the fire and try the ‘Sex in the Woods’. A backcounrty twist on the traditional ‘Sex on the Beach’ cocktail, with Moonshine replacing the Vodka!

Arguably, the perfect aperitif for a tinfoil parcel of fire baked vegetables – James and Courtney’s dinner contribution – which we all had fun chopping, seasoning, cooking and eating together as the effects of the beer and the moonshine began to be felt.

We sat round the fire long after my rudimentary bar had run dry, long after night had fallen and the mountains had disappeared into the dark. We would not see them again until we were all packed up the next morning and we had to force ourselves to raise sore heads to take a last look up at their marvellous peaks before heading home.

Away from the mountains

Long drives at the end of a trip are never expected to be fun and in this case to get home we had to turned our backs on the Rocky’s and drive away from the best views. But we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife, not saying it, but hoping for my first bear sighting from the safety of a car.

Then, finally, not far from Prince George, on a raised bank by the side of the road, we saw a bear. He had the distinctive tan nose, black fur and large body of a male Black Bear. Slowly chomping, completely unfaized by the cars speeding by.

Finally, a bear! As we sailed passed it, with Marcus and Lindsay following in the car behind, I could see Marcus’ fist raised out of his car window, punching the air, celebrating my first bear.

We had stumbled upon something

‘Rec Sites’ are an absolute gift, the Rocky Mountains are immense and, happily, just because you are in grizzly country does not mean you will be eaten by one; are some of the things are learned from this trip!

I also realised how lucky we have been to meet these four people. Marcus knew about this secret paradise where we stayed, Lindsay lent us her car to get there and we would have had no sleeping equipment but for James and Courtney. A side from that, being in a group where you are often doing loud, belly laughs, keeps bears at bay!

When moving abroad you can do certain things to help you settle in: fly your dog over, hunt down Marmite, bring paintings of your hometown. But after this trip I realised we had stumbled upon something we could not control, friends to enjoy everything British Columbia has to offer with.

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Some more tales from the wilderness…

A hike in a land formed by ice, to a canyon conquered by paddle steamers

Snowshoes, Bald Eagles and a Disused Ski Hill: five adventures in Northern British Columbia

A snowy day hiking in the footsteps of First Nation traders and conquering my fear of the cold

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