We left San Diego and the hotel earlier than planned as the weather was atrocious and they were experiencing their worst storm for 3 years - but they need the rain as they are currently experiencing a drought. We arrived at the Amtrak station just before 9am and changed our tickets for the 0925 train instead of the 1042 - it was a really comfortable trip upstairs in business class and not expensive at just over £30 each for a 2.5 hour trip to Los Angeles - a si...

As we didn't have to leave until midday I went to the gym before breakfast and afterwards we both went to the viewing platform - sadly no last bears. We said our goodbyes, were taken to the airport, and finally took off in torrential rain - the flight was interesting we seemed amazingly close to the mountains as we climbed out of the valley and passed a glacier, which was clearly visible through the clouds. We landed in Vancouver in strong winds and rain - summ...

Today was our last full day - it had rained heavily overnight but dawned dry but chilly. No bears during breakfast but after eating we went to the platform to see if we could find any - there were only a few birds and researchers from the fisheries department in an inflatable (today's photo) collecting dead chinook salmon which had been chipped when they were fry ( how did they identify them from the in chipped chinook - a missing dorsal fin which they had previo...

The day dawned bright and sunny yet again; we could see people on the bear viewing platform but they were chatting so we knew there were no bears around. Consequently we headed off to breakfast. While eating my fruit and yogurt I suddenly saw a bear walk across the grass in front of the platform. It loitered; eating grass,pooping and lying down snoozing before finally wandering off down the field towards the river. The people who were trapped on the platform coul...

Today's photo is the view from our cabin - what a view to wake up to! It dawned bright sunshine but putting a toe outside to take some photos soon revealed, a significant drop in temperature, and the white of the first frost of the season. After breakfast John and I walked to the public viewpoint on the river, which is about 20 minutes, from the Lodge. The viewpoint is manned by the National Park for the duration of the bear season and the deck is surrounded by...