Bears wake and graze near Whistler

From the safety of the Whistler Discovery Tours jeep, I was fortunate to be witness to the early feeding of black bears along a remote mountain road.

My fellow bear-watchers were two couples: one from California and the other from Australia.

Jason, our photographer guide, told us how fortunate we were to get such a good look at these impressive animals. In spring, the grass is still short, so they are plainly visible.

Each individual animal we saw stayed close to our vehicle for at least 15 minutes. All three were black bears, though two were brown in colour. They seemed unconcerned by the presence of the jeep or the sounds of clicking cameras from its windows.

It was wonderful to watch them at close range. Their movements were interesting and unexpected; more than once we saw someone standing on three legs, the fourth paw in the air with its teddy-bear pads plainly visible.

Just recently out of their dens, they were grazing on young clover. Jason told us another favourite spring food is skunk cabbage -- a plant with a rank smell I recall well from my northern BC childhood.