There are many black bears in the Lower Mainland, at the edges of the mountains. Indeed we see them from time to time in Abbotsford and have had them in our driveway and knocking over our bird feeder. On almost all of our hiking and cycling trails we see bear warning signs. So it is no surprise for us to see or encounter bears, particularly in the autumn when the bears are fattening up for winter hibernation and the salmon are spawning. This week however was exceptional in that we were able to observe a bear across a small creek from where we were, while it rested, fished, climbed and feasted on salmon. Its actions made it quite clear that it was nervous of other more “dominant” bears in the area, and in fact we encountered a sow and two cubs as we left the site and returned to our car. The following is a sampling of photographs I took while watching.
