Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/118157
MER 1 E . P R 10 . SU ❂ M O FIL Bear Soul A reverent shout-out to B.C.'s bear whisperer story and photography by Andrew Findlay Cariboo Mountains Provincial Park, B.C. Clad in hip waders and a rain jacket, Gary Zorn braces thigh-deep against the glacial current of the Mitchell River, hands the size of grizzly paws gripping the gunnel of our jet boat. "This river is a treasure," he confides in his gravelly whisper. "I bet you never knew places like this existed." I open my mouth to respond from my seat in the prow, but Zorn raises a forefinger. Silence is key when edging toward a grizzly; to Ursus arctos horribilis, one of the continent's fiercest predators, the human voice is as obtrusive as a bullhorn at choir practice. So, I sit, listen and watch as Zorn guides the boat over a shallow riffle, then climbs back aboard. Depending on whose science one believes, B.C.'s grizzlies number between 6,000 and 17,000, and are considered a species of "special concern" by government – highly vulnerable to fragmentation of their wide-ranging territory by roads and logging. But this is prime, pristine bear habitat. All around us, lichen clings to massive cedar and hemlock trees, a landscape reminiscent of the province's ancient coastal forests even though we're more than 400 kilometres in a straight line from the saltchuck. Just a few kilometres downstream, the wildly beautiful Mitchell ends its journey from the high alpine of the Cariboo Mountains and drains into the north arm of Quesnel Lake. And here, in the Mitchell River Valley, one of the largest grizzly populations in the province's interior returns every summer and into the fall to gorge on spawning salmon. It's also Zorn's second home. The folksy outdoorsman has led fishing and grizzly viewing expeditions into the valley for more than two decades, replete with sightings of anywhere from a half-dozen to 20 grizzlies a day when the salmon are running. The early morning mist that clung to the river like a wet blanket has burned off, revealing a brilliant blue sky and the glaciated ramparts of Roberts Peak on the eastern skyline. Salmon dart through the crystalline waters in flashes of crimson and the air is pungent with the smell of decay. The sockeye have travelled more than 1,000 km northeast from the Pacific via the Fraser before branching upstream into the Quesnel River, up the lake of the same name and, GARY ZORN IS ONE OF THE FEW B.C. wilderness guides who eschews bear-viewing platforms. Instead, he gets the curious out on the Cariboo's Mitchell River — which drains out of remote Cariboo Mountains Provincial Park, adjacent to the world-renowned Bowron Lakes canoe circuit — and up close to salmon-feeding grizzlies. WESTWORLD p18-23_Profile.indd 19 >> S U M M E R 2 0 1 2 19 4/19/12 7:13:03 AM