Happy Christmas

A grizzly bear on our river this past October. Photo by Alex Crouzet.

A note to thank you all for your support and encouragement over the past year.

Wild Bear Lodge, which went through a few difficult years, is now buzzing and happy again and we have just had one of our best seasons - the salmon run is up, the grizzlies were out in numbers, and we had some wonderful guests.

(It’s so nice to see some of you come back year after year - a real vote of confidence that what we offer is something special.)

In fact, now that we only run our holidays for a few weeks in May-June and the month of October we are often pretty full, which is also great.

It has been a good year in other ways too. After a decade of struggling I finally managed to land my 1957 bush plane on my very own runway carved out of the moiuntainside.

Katya, who will be turning nine this year, on my new runway. Photo by Alex Crouzet.

I got all the firewood chopped up and stored. It’s a little late - about five years - but I think I caught it just in time.

We had a good rafting year, even though water levels were absurdly low.

And we are pioneering a new holiday - which will involve some hiking in the sub-alpine just as the snow comes off. The exact dates for that are just being finalised and but they will be in June 2027.

Since it is Christmas, I am going to make my archive for this past year free for all readers - both those who have a paid subscription and those who don’t - for the next two weeks. (The archive for previous years is available to paid subscribers.)

This will give all of you a chance to catch up on any stories you have missed.

If you would like to become a paid subscriber the annual cost is CAD 35 a year (about GBP 20, EUR 23 or USD 27).

I hope you’re all having a wonderful time, have eaten to your heart’s content, and are slumped in front of the telly, surrounded by mince pies, sipping on your favourite tipple.

I am in London with Kim on Ellen Marianne, her 1904 Dutch sailing barge - technically a tjalk - hatching plans for the coming year.

If you are thinking about 2026 and fancy some time in the Canadian wilds to walk off the extra pounds drop me a line on julius@wildbearlodge.ca.

We still have spots available in early June, which include some decent hikes to view bears, and, of course, for our October grizzly-viewing.

In the meantime - Happy Christmas to you all!