By Keith and Heather
Nicol
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| Bears in the cottonwood tree |
On a recent ski trip from Mount Washington we saw several people on the new bridge over the Tsolum River
on Piercy Road. Some had long telephoto lenses so we decided to pull over and
check it out. Since they were looking up
into a tall cottonwood tree we thought they must have spotted a rare bird but
when we got closer we could see that there was a bear high up in the tree. In
chatting with the people that were there they said that bears had been seen in the area
for several weeks and they seems to be wintering there. Since we live close by we
decided to go home and get our binoculars and our camera. Thirty minutes later
we were back and some new people who happen to live close by were taking
pictures and they told that they see the bears in that area all the time. We
could make out the head of a young bear and it seemed to be resting on the
mother’s head. The large cottonwood tree is on
the east side of the Tsolum River and best vantage point is from the
bridge. Traffic and parking can be an
issue especially with all of the snow but we found the best place to park was
on Dove Creek Road which is on the west side of the river and we parked near
the large barn and walked up to the bridge from there. Be aware that this is a busy highway so drive
and park safely if you want to check the bears out.
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| A small bear outlined against the sky |
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| Another cub looking us over |
