King Pacific Lodge

WOW I yelled, as I looked down at the Great Bear Rainforest from my lodge window.

Not that any of the other seven passengers could hear me over the engines of the pre World War II float plane.  The largest temperate rainforest left on earth with its pristine beauty of unspoiled lakes and untouched trees as far as I could see, it was just overwhelming.

Since there are no roads for hundreds of miles a float plane is the only way to get to the remote King Pacific lodge.  The lodge is actually built on a huge barge and pulled by tug boats to Princess Royal Island in British Columbia in the spring and returns to Vancouver BC the same way each fall.

We trolled for salmon and not one was caught under 34lbs.  I fished for sea-bass and pulled in 11 rock fish, in less than 1 hour.  You have to pay attention because there was always a bald eagle around that would swoop down, clawing the fish off the hook for an easy meal.

The highlight of my trip was heli-sightseeing and heli-snowshoeing above the tree line on the mountain top.  Jumping out of a helicopter into blinding snow in June was an unforgettable experience. We then clamped on our snowshoes while one of our guides plotted our trek to avoid causing any avalanches.

The views of the other snow capped mountains and the many glacier fed lakes were truly awesome and even brought a tear to my sunburned face.  A guide pointed to the adjacent mountain where you could see a snowline that was left after an avalanche had broken off.  That visible remaining snowline I learned is called a hang fire.

The heli-sightseeing on the return trip to the lodge never stopped amazing us. WOW what a trip.      

Robert Sulens