Great Bear Rainforest Read Online Free PDF

experience in her mind.
    “Truthfully,” she said, “it can be very traumatic. You would be amazed at how fast they come at you. If it happens, hold your ground. This is extremely difficult, but we’re not going to outrun a bear so there is no point in trying. You have to be strong and endure it. Most likely it is a mock charge and the bear will stop.”
    “Bears mock charge just like lions?” I asked.
    “That’s right. But, if a bear actually attacks, fall to the ground, curl into a fetal position, cup your hands around the back of your neck, and play dead. In a worst-case scenario, we may need to fight it off. Should any of this happen, I will direct you. It’s important that we all stay close. Our strength is in numbers.”
    “Well,” Gannon said, “this sure sounds like tons of fun, but I think I’ll stay aboard the boat and help the captain chart our course to Princess Royal Island.”
    “Come on, Gannon,” the captain said. “Where’s your sense of adventure? You didn’t come all the way to the Great Bear Rainforest to sit aboard a ship. You came here to explore, to bond with nature, to view the wildlife!”
    Gannon thought for a moment before he responded.
    “All right,” he said. “I’ll go. But I’d like to state the following on record: If I become a grizzly snack, I hold Captain Colin personally responsible.”
    The captain gave a great, belly laugh.
    “You’ll be fine, laddy.”
    “Remember,” Alu said, “we are here to observe. If we behave properly the bears won’t pay any attention to us.”
    “I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” Gannon said.
    My nerves have settled, replaced by a bone-numbing cold. It’s not so much the temperature. It’s well above freezing right now. It’s all this rain. My hands are shaking and my writing is starting to look more like a seismographic chart than anything else. What I wouldn’t do to warm myself by a nice campfire right about now!
GANNON
    After what seemed like forever without a sighting, Alu leaned to me and whispered.
    “I am concerned that we have not seen a bear today,” she said.
    Concerned isn’t the word I’d use. My feelings over the matter are a combination of disappointment and relief, really. A contradiction, I know, but true. I mean, of course, I’d love to see a grizzly in the wild. I have my video camera all wrapped up in a waterproof casing and have been thinking about how great it would be to get footage of one stepping from the woods, lumbering toward the river, stopping, and looking me in the eyes. Oh, man, to capture that on video would just be awesome! Besides, we are here to see bears, so bears we must see. At the same time, I sure as heck don’t want to be mauled by one!
    “Notice the salmon swimming upstream,” Alu continued, speaking so softly I could barely hear her over the trickle of the stream. “This is only a fraction of the salmon that we typically see here. Last year, numbers were down considerably. This year it is even worse. I don’t understand. The stream should be so full of salmon that you can’t even see the bottom.”
    How the salmon numbers could fall off so drastically, I have no idea. And I didn’t ask either because Alu seemed to be lost in her own thoughts and, well, I didn’t want to bother her. I mean, she’s a real quiet, introspective type person, in general, but the troubled look in her eyes tells me that something in the Great Bear Rainforest is terribly wrong.
WYATT
    2:28 PM
    We were all getting a little restless when Alu spoke to us in a whisper: “We’ll stay put for a little while longer, then I’d like to hike up the mountain a few kilometers to check on a grizzly den that I know of. I completely understand if some of you are not comfortable joining me. I’d be happy to take you back to the shoreline where we can radio the captain to pick you up.”
    Even though we haven’t seen any wildlife, I’m happy with my field notes and the photos I’ve taken today, and besides,