Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables... & Bears

Ya the Tittle may echo Old Punk, but the message is clearly New Age.... lets help get our fruit off of the residential trees and bushes of Bella Coola Vallay before the bears are attracted to it and become food conditioned, which is ultimately a bad thing.

Bella Coola Valley is striving to become a Bear Smart Community, limiting negative interactions between bears and humans, and protecting bears and humans from uncomfortable interactions.

There are six criteria that need to be satisfied for a district or municipality to achieve "Bear Smart" status:

1/ Prepare a Bear Hazard Assessment using the criteria outlined.

2/ Prepare a bear-human conflict management plan designed to

address the bear hazards and land-use conflicts identified in the

hazard assessment.

3/ Revise planning and decision-making documents to be

consistent with the bear-human conflict management plan.

4/ Implement a continuing education program directed at all sectors

of the community.

5/ Develop and maintain a bear-proof municipal solid waste

management system.

6/ Implement "Bear Smart" bylaws prohibiting the provision of

food to bears as a result of intent, neglect, or irresponsible

management of attractants.

While it is a challenge to incorporate these types of ecological and sustainable ideas into a newly flourishing tourism-based community, several locals are trying their best and we hope to see a swing towards bear-human sustainability in our small yet pristine ecosystem in the near future.

Bella Coola's Coast Mountain lodge and Kynoch Adventures does its part by ridding trees of excess fruit, keeping a clean lodge grounds and exposing visitors to natural wonders of the rain forest ecosystem that will hopefully inspire them to maintain proper bear-etiquette..

Atnarko River Bear and Wilderness Tours

With ever increasing interest in the Bella Coola Valley and the incredible wilderness experiences of the Great Bear Rainforest and Tweedsmuir Park, which flank our lodge to the west and east... it seemed logical that we incorporate interpretive hikes in Tweedsmuir Park as part of our holiday and adventure tourism packages in Bella Coola Valley.

With a local naturalist as a guide and the westcoast wilderness as a backdrop, let your imagination run wild in pristine grizzly bear habitat and endulge yourself on an unforgetable experience and chance to see wildlife, untouched forests, soaring mountain peeks and swooping eagles of the Bella Coola Valley!

These guided hiking tours are available for private (2 guest) or group tours (max 4 guests) by reservation. Please contact Coast Mountain Lodge to reserve a spot for your land-based Bella Coola ecological-wildlife excursion!

Swift Water rescue Guide Training

As our guides and lodge staff and friends are also active members in Bella Coola Valley Search and Rescue, we had a great opportunity to host an SRT Level 1 Swift Water Rescue course in Early June! Thanks to Craig and all of the folks at Raven rescue for making this a success. BCVSAR and Coast Mountain Lodge would also like to thank all of the business and tourism operators of Bella Coola Valley for their support in funding and in-kind donations.

With guides trained in wilderness first aid, swiftwater rescue, bear viewing and other search and rescue techniques Kynoch Adventures and Coast Mountain Lodge aims to provide safe, respectful memorable ans sustainable tourism opportunities for visitors to BC's remote central coast.

See you soon in Bella Coola!

Bears of the Bella Coola Valley

With the spring vegetation in full blossom and a variety of succulent plants available, black and grizzly bears are browsing on their favorite spring greens! Lots of locals and tourists have been seeing black bears fairly regularly, and a few grizzly bears have been seen as well!

Bella Coola valley is home to dozens of grizzly bears and likely hundreds of resident or regional black bears! With these animals in close proximity to the town and homes their sightings are all part of a trip to Bella Coola. These animals also share their space with cougars, wolves, deer, beavers and other iconic Canadian wildlife!

Tours that we offer through Coast Mountain Lodge and Kynoch Adventures are the perfect opportunity for a chance to see these and other creatures of the Great Bear Rainforest.

Spring News & more on Sustainability

With the recent release of West Coast Adventures TV Bella Coola Episode (May 12 and re-airing May 30), we expect great publicity for our region! Way to GO West Coast Adventure Team (Danny, Susie and Scott!). The full episode can be viewed at westcoastadventurestv.com. Look for Season 2, Episode 5 for some fun clips.


Eco-rafting season has started again and we are looking forward to training upgrades for staff and guides, including Swift Water Rescue training provided by Raven Rescue in Bella Coola this spring.

Holly also completed her Bear Viewing Guide course at Night Inlet this spring and we are pleased to welcome new staff to Coast Mountain Lodge! Alecia has joined our team and Annika is back for the summer so we expect to have a well rounded contingent of staff and leaders to assist guests for 2010.

Our lodge is also gaining ETHOS sustainability certification as a commitment to our sustainability pledges and to make guests' visits more enjoyable. Stay tuned as this certification unfolds! Recent addition of our property to the BC Ferries Holiday booking program is also proving to be beneficial in promoting our region and sending customers to us!

2010 sustainability!

2010 is proving to be a pivotal point in our regions eco-toursim industry, with more and more interest from travelers from the world over coming to see our last remaining areas of intact coastal rainforests and true wilderness valleys.

To better prepare ourselves for sustainable tourism we at Coast Mountain Lodge and Kynoch Adventures have joined forces with BC Wilderness Tourism Association (BCWTA) and the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC (CBVA); two of the most prominent advocacy groups for promoting sustainable tourism.

Working under the mandates of these operations will help us make the decisions as we grow that will keep our area wild and beautiful for all visitors.

We hope these steps are the beginning of a regional awakening by all operators of the importance of protecting our tourism, ecological and social resources of British Columbia!

See you on the water in Bella Coola!

Spring In Bella Coola Valley.

Spring is definitely in the air in Bella Coola Valley. Recently shrubs and small plants that the early spring grizzly and black bears thrive on have started budding and leafing out. With the snow slowly retreating back up the mountains it signals the end of another busy heli-ski season and time to get prepared for wilderness and wildlife eco-tours at Coast Mountain Lodge.

We expect our first river tours over the Easter weekend which is a little earlier than before, but the region is growing in toursim interests as a 'wilderness destination getaway' and we are more than happy to share the best Bella Coola has to offer!



Whether you are looking for a peaceful vacation in a remote unexplored area, or wish to hike, travel and meet experience new adventures alone or in a group, we can likely arrange something that would suite your needs in Bella Coola.

Bella Coola Blog: Rain

Bella Coola Blog: Rain

Yoga retreat in Bella Coola Valley

Bella Coola's Coast Mountain Lodge and Bella Coola Yogis are pleased to announce a Yoga Retreat in Bella Coola from February 16 to 21, 2010.

This BCVT news article has more details.

Bella Coola Valley a ‘Natural’ for Yoga Retreats

An instructional Yoga Retreat will be held in Bella Coola between February 16 and 21, 2010 and will be open to all participants interested in practicing or learning about Yoga.

Taking place in the peaceful mountain surroundings of the Bella Coola Valley, our February 2010 yoga retreat promises instruction to beginners and accomplished yogis alike as well as a workshop for our local yoga leaders to hone their technique in sharing the beauty and vitality of yoga practice with others. With a qualified visiting instructor from a Vancouver BC Yoga Studio, this retreat promises to be a success.

Join us for this transformational practice in a valley where connection to nature and community are strong and the deeply inspiring natural energy of our Pacific coastal river valley location is bound to move your spirit.

For information contact Monicat Tutt at 250-799-5607.

2010 Winter & Spring Trout Fishing Looking Promising!!

News from Bella Coola rivers suggests a great trout fishing season, and Coast Mountain Lodge offers a great fishing special!!!

Bella Coola’s healthy coastal rivers and streams promise to produce another strong and sustainable sport trout-fishing recreational opportunity for avid fly fishers on BC’s Central Coast. With mild winter temperatures from December through February, it is expected that some salmon fry will be hatching a little bit early, prompting the sea-run cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, and resident rainbow trout to be seeking the hatching salmon fry early this year. Look for sheens of silver salmon fry heading to the ocean in early April through May and expect great trout fishing for novice to intermediate skill levels; experts beware, this will be a fishing overload!

Expert anglers know to use a silver-minnow pattern with a sinking leader to mimic the hatch. But does anyone know where the Dolly Varden got its name, and why it is the only BC coastal fish whose name has capital letters? The reason is that in the late 1890’s Charles Dickens' wrote a novel called Barnaby Rudge in which there appears a character named Dolly Varden that often wore a pink polka-dotted dress that apparently resembled the natural colouring of the ‘Dolly Varden Trout’. There forward the Dolly Varden was so named…

Gearing up for spring season

We will again be gearing up for a new season with a new menu for our dining guests, a new tour roster for our touring guests, and always a new adventure for our returning guests. We have made several improvements to our lodge over the last season and have made new arrangements with our established tour operators to provide everyone with a memorable Bella Coola Experience!

See you in 2010, Fraser and Holly
Lets all Give to Haiti, it is what we should do.

Short Slide Show

A few slides from tours in 2009, Happy New Year and see you in 2010.

Off to Mexico

Well on November 7 we had our first snowfall in Bella Coola Valley, so that signaled the official end of the tourist season until the Heli Ski crowd arrives in February. Holly and I will be taking a trip to Mexico to explore the Copper Canyon for a few weeks.

Hope everyone comes back in 2010!

Training Day for all of the guides in Bella Coola

On Oct 21 and 22, 2009 Kynoch Adventures Guides' took part in a 2-day training program sanctioned by the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC to refresh our training and standards to be sure they were commensurate with other operators in the province. We were surprised how well all of the Bella Coola Grizzly viewing guides did on this course, reaffirming we are industry leaders in conservation, ecology and tourism activities. This voluntary re-fresher course was offered by BC Parks.

Course material included guide certification, bear habits, ecology, best managment practices and a variety of other bear and tourism related management scenarios. The trip ended with a raft tour down our beloved Atnarko River to review the protocols and procedures that all Bella Coola Grizzly Bear Tour Guides uphold!

Kynoch Adventures and Coast Mountain Lodge will be offering Bella Coola grizzly tours again in 2010!!! Check our website www.coastmountainlodge.com for more information on these grizzly bear tours and other tourism activities we offer in Bella Coola Valley BC Canada!

Fall in the Bella Coola Valley, BC canada

Fall is approaching quickly with even a hint of snow flurries in the Bella Coola Valley floor this week. The salmon spawning runs are dwindling, but the coho sport fishing is still very much alive, and there are lots of sport fishing and recreation opportunities for autumn enthusiasts. In fact on my way across the Chilcotin Plateau I passed a bicycle tourist bound for Bella Coola, showing all seasons are adventure seasons on the Central Coast.

As we wrap up our summer-fall guiding it is the time for some new training and skills-development for guides and staff at the lodge.

Holly is in Vancouver completing her Yoga Instructors certification and we hope to incorporate some Yoga and relaxation session into our 2010-11 trip rosters, as well as Holly leading local classes here in the community.

Our other guides and myself will be completing a bear viewing seminar with other local enthusiasts and guides to ensure all members of the guide and public community are aware of our responsibilities in watching wildlife and promoting sustainable futures for recreational and tourism guiding in the region.


We'll update with fresh pics and news as it unfolds during training and next years trip development.

Fraser and Holly

Photostream from Flickr

We are wrapping up our guide season soon and will be posting the BEST of 2009 soon!

Here is a quick link to some of our lodge slides on Flickr. Enjoy and see you around.

Fraser and Holly

Old Dogs, New Tricks...

This just shows that old guides can learn new tricks. This picture is my father and long-time Bella Coola and Atnarko River fishing and bear guide on the sticks of one of Kynoch Adventures' tour rafts!

Les Koroluk is an icon in the guiding and tourism industry in Bella Coola Valley BC, but for years has been holding on to his precious Clackacraft Drift Boat for bear tours and guiding. With low water in the Atnarko River and a raft available for the day, I convinced him to try out the lighter boat for a guided float.


The raft handled better than he thought, and for a 'little' over 65 years old, he handled it like the river pro he is!!! Les guides bears for us in the fall in Tweedsmuir Park, with our tours operated from Bella Coola's Coast Mountain Lodge.


Les Koroluk was practically the founder of Bear Viewing tours in Bella Coola, as he developed this form of tourism over the last 25 years, as angling guiding morphed into eco-tourism and now grizzly bear viewing.


On this trip we had two boats out and saw plenty of grizzly bears with some awesome video footage and great photo opportunities.

Bears of Bella Coola, September 8, 2009

Here is a little bit more video we collected from the trips this week. This stuff was just shot from a camera at the back of the raft by the guide, the clients with the good cameras get the really great shots (that's why we give them the front seats!!!).

These tours are 3-5 hours depending on the bear activity and are guided by a professional biologist to ensure guests get an ecologically satisfying experience and learning adventure in the great bear rain forest that we call HOME!

See everyone soon in Bella Coola for some bear viewing with Kynoch Adventures and Coast Mountain Lodge!

Cheers, Fraser and Holly

Dreaming of Monday, Aug. 31, Bears on the JAM

Last week were were treated to some excellent bear viewing, watching a sow and two 2-year old cubs feeding on salmon. Our guests were happy and the bears were obviously 'catching' not just 'fishing'.

Enjoy this video clip and we will see you in Bella Coola.

Bear Viewing is in full swing in Bella Coola

Bear tours have started now that our salmon are in the rivers, after a short hiatus owing to unseasonably warm temperatures! The weather is stabilizing with fine late summer conditions after a sweltering August, and in the last week the pink and coho salmon numbers have skyrocketed in the Atnarko River. This will bring the bears down from the mountains and provide excellent opportunities for bear tours in Bella Coola and Tweedsmuir Park.

Kynoch Adventures tours' for bear viewing are leaving daily from Coast Mountain Lodge and there is always a great opportunity to see our wildlife!