I saw🐻🐻🐻🐻 Bear Country British Columbia in Canada

Caroline
Jun 4, 2018
4 min read

The Beautiful British Columbia is known for it's beautiful scenery and has the highest populations of black bears in the world. Bears inhabit most ecosystems throughout BC and you should consider the entire province to be “Bear Country” according to BC wildlife.

I have never seen a bear in the wild before but today I have seen 4 of them in a day.

Let me tell you my unexpected scary up-close encounter with some Big American Back Bears.

Okay Shall we?

The incident took place on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Minnekhada Regional Park in Coquitlam BC Canada, which is 1 hour drive away from Vancouver.

My husband and I were going to this trail with this young family with a 2 years old toddler, thinking to enjoy this beautiful afternoon and spend the time in the outdoor. Our goal was to hike to the High knoll to look at the viewpoint.

The Be aware of Bears signs were display on the information broad and at the beginning of the trail. We were kinda excited and feel safe because there was many families with young kids and their dogs were

there on the trail. I causally read thru the "What do you do when you see a bear" brochure from the

information center and thinking it's less likely we would see bears since we hike in a group and thought

wild bears usually don't get too close to the humans. I am pretty sure they will hide from us.

5 - 10 minutes walk from the parking lot then continue right at the next fork and the first views of the lower marsh can be seen. A few more steps and the trail emerges from the trees along a dike that offers a scenic view of the area. Watch for Frogs, Wood Ducks, Beavers, and other wildlife that make their homes in this protected marshland.

We spotted a small black bear swimming in the shallow water in a visible distance about 15 feet away, our first encounter of a bear, we were pretty excited to see it. However, it We took lots of picture here then continue our journey to the High knoll viewpoint.

We saw another one swimming in the water 50 feet away from us when we go up to the small hill after the marshland. I was filming and taking pictures of the bear and thinking how adorable is the little bear swimming in the water.

We continue our journey to the High Knoll viewpoint, we chatted and took lots of pictures

After 40 minutes, we reached to an intersection, there was a sign that shows us we were 10 minutes away from the viewpoint. My husband was the leader in the group and he was already ahead of all of us, standing on the upper level of a hill, facing us and chatting with our 6 feet tall friend Dave. I was 5 feet away from Dave and taking pictures of 2 Caves that was 3 story height from where we were, wondering if that is the Bear Den. The toddler and her mother was 6 feet away from me were slowly walking toward to me. Suddenly, our friend Dave whispered and said to my husband"there is a Big Black Bear behind you in the bush, we better go back to where we came from" then I saw the head of the bear so I quickly signal the mother not to return around and leave. My legs reacted quickly and ready to run but my brain reminds me not to as the Bear brochure that I read earlier at the information center said DO NOT RUN when you encounter a bear. I told everyone that we should stay calm and should not be running but there was no time for us to think as the bear was VERY CLOSE and slowly moving toward us. It could overrun then tear us to death in just couple seconds.

What should we do? Are we not suppose to run? Where do we go? OMGOMGOMG......

I was very focus to every step that I take and my legs were not tired at all. All of us moved very fast

downhill and jog quickly finally back to the trails that leads toward the Low Knoll so that we caught our

breath in there. My husband looked back and said "GO!GO!GO!" He told us he saw 2 big bears were on

the trail chasing behind us. I almost shit my pants and my heart beat to the maximum. All I want to do is

go back to the car ASAP and I absolutely do not want to be eaten by a Bear!!!I pray to God and wish all of us can go home safe.

We were so quick and realized we only spend within 10 minutes to jog back to the marsh. We saw a pair of human elderly couple walking with their mid-size dog towards us. We warned them about the 2 big bears but they seems calm and not so care about that so they continue their hike towards where we ran away from. We feel safer after seeing other humans but still stay very alert to look for signs of Bears.

We warned every person we saw on the way back to the parking lot. Next thing we know, We are back to the entrance of the trail. I was so relief and glad that we are all safe.

Looking back:

#1 I am sure the Bears were just trying to scare us away from their home

#2 I am sure they can outrun us if they wanted to

#3 There is a reason why the park put brochure at the information center, READ IT

Lessons learn:

#1 Bring Bear Spray/Bear bell next time

#2 This place is dangerous for kids

#3 100% alert in the wild

#4 Read this https://wildsafebc.com/bear-smart/ before going to the wild

Here is how I feel about 🐻 within the day:

1st 🐻,me 🤗 Exciting

2nd 🐻,me 😍 Aww