new name for our lodge !

Hi everyone, owing to certain unforeseen circumstances, we will change our name a little bit to our new name Bella Coola Mountain Lodge.

This also means our website will change to www.bcmountainlodge.com and our e-mail contact info will change to info@bcmountainlodge.com.

We'll keep everyone posted on these events, but as for now enjoy our blog.

Rafting in Bella Coola

Spring is here in Bella Coola Valley and river levels are perfect for eco-rafting in the Bella Coola River. The trips have been going well and we are excited to be training three new guides this year and adding a second boat to the fleet to accommodate larger tour groups and oversees visitors!

We'll get some pictures from our last guide-training run up soon, but be sure to put Bella Coola on your must-see summer activity list on the Central Coast of BC for summer 2009.

Cheers, Fraser Holly and crew.

River Clean up in Bella Coola, help our salmon and help our rivers!

Bella Coola Mountain Lodge and Kynoch Adventures plan to host a river clean-up day and a great opportunity for Bella Coola Valley residents and visitors to see the river and help remove any obtrusive debris or waste that may be affecting the natural beauty and environment of the Bella Coola and Atnarko Rivers.

Salmon, birds, bears and the entire riparian ecosystem depend on healthy water ways, so this is the least we can do to help our rivers!

Please call our lodge during July to see if you are available to help. Toll free 1-866-982-2298, ask for Fraser or leave a message.

We will be doing our first preliminary trip to remove fishing gear from the Bella Coola River On July 24-25 and a later trip to the Atnarko River on August 1-3. This is a great way to see the river and to help keep our wilderness areas pristine!

Hope to hear from everyone and see you on the water. Be sure to check out our tour schedule for eco-rafting, bear tours and salmon snorkeling at www.bcmountainlodge.com or www.bellacoolabears.com .

Fraser, Holly and friends.

Old dogs, new tricks with sticks

This just shows that old guides can learn new tricks. This picture is my father and long-time Bella Coola and Atnarko River fishing and bear guide on the sticks of one of Kynoch Adventures' tour rafts!

Les Koroluk (original owner of Bella Coola Mountain Lodge) is an icon in the guiding and tourism industry in Bella Coola Valley BC, but for years has been holding on to his precious Clackacraft Drift Boat for bear tours and guiding. With low water in the Atnarko River and a raft available for the day, I convinced him to try out the lighter boat for a guided float.


The raft handled better than he thought, and for a 'little' over 65 years old, he handled it like the river pro he is!!! Les guides bears for us in the fall in Tweedsmuir Park, with our tours operated from Bella Coola's Coast Mountain Lodge.


Les Koroluk was practically the founder of Bear Viewing tours in Bella Coola, as he developed this form of tourism over the last 25 years, as angling guiding morphed into eco-tourism and now grizzly bear viewing.


On this trip we had two boats out and saw plenty of grizzly bears with some awesome video footage and great photo opportunities.

Bear Viewing Guide Training for Bella Coola Mountain Lodge

On Oct 21 and 22, 2009 Kynoch Adventures Guides' took part in a 2-day training program sanctioned by the Commercial Bear Viewing Association of BC to refresh our training and standards to be sure they were commensurate with other operators in the province. We were surprised how well all of the Bella Coola Grizzly viewing guides did on this course, reaffirming we are industry leaders in conservation, ecology and tourism activities. This voluntary re-fresher course was offered by BC Parks.

Course material included guide certification, bear habits, ecology, best managment practices and a variety of other bear and tourism related management scenarios. The trip ended with a raft tour down our beloved Atnarko River to review the protocols and procedures that all Bella Coola Grizzly Bear Tour Guides uphold!

Kynoch Adventures and Bella Coola Mountain Lodge will be offering Bella Coola grizzly tours again in 2010!!! Check our website www.bcmountainlodge.com for more information on these grizzly bear tours and other tourism activities we offer in Bella Coola Valley BC Canada!

Yoga in Bella Coola!

Bella Coola's Bella Coola Mountain Lodge and Bella Coola Yogis are pleased to announce a Yoga Retreat in Bella Coola from February 16 to 21, 2010.

This BCVT news article has more details.

Bella Coola Valley a ‘Natural’ for Yoga Retreats

An instructional Yoga Retreat will be held in Bella Coola between February 16 and 21, 2010 and will be open to all participants interested in practicing or learning about Yoga.

Taking place in the peaceful mountain surroundings of the Bella Coola Valley, our February 2010 yoga retreat promises instruction to beginners and accomplished yogis alike as well as a workshop for our local yoga leaders to hone their technique in sharing the beauty and vitality of yoga practice with others. With a qualified visiting instructor from a Vancouver BC Yoga Studio, this retreat promises to be a success.

Join us for this transformational practice in a valley where connection to nature and community are strong and the deeply inspiring natural energy of our Pacific coastal river valley location is bound to move your spirit.

For information contact Monicat Tutt at 250-799-5607.

Guide Training at Bella Coola Mountain Lodge

As our guides and lodge staff and friends are also active members in Bella Coola Valley Search and Rescue, we had a great opportunity to host an SRT Level 1 Swift Water Rescue course in Early June! Thanks to Craig and all of the folks at Raven rescue for making this a success. BCVSAR and Coast Mountain Lodge would also like to thank all of the business and tourism operators of Bella Coola Valley for their support in funding and in-kind donations.

With guides trained in wilderness first aid, swiftwater rescue, bear viewing and other search and rescue techniques Kynoch Adventures and Bela Coola Mountain Lodge aims to provide safe, respectful memorable ans sustainable tourism opportunities for visitors to BC's remote central coast.

See you soon in Bella Coola!

Spring arrival in Bella Coola 2010

With the spring vegetation in full blossom and a variety of succulent plants available, black and grizzly bears are browsing on their favorite spring greens! Lots of locals and tourists have been seeing black bears fairly regularly, and a few grizzly bears have been seen as well!

Bella Coola valley is home to dozens of grizzly bears and likely hundreds of resident or regional black bears! With these animals in close proximity to the town and homes their sightings are all part of a trip to Bella Coola. These animals also share their space with cougars, wolves, deer, beavers and other iconic Canadian wildlife!

Tours that we offer through Bella Coola Mountain Lodge and Kynoch Adventures are the perfect opportunity for a chance to see these and other creatures of the Great Bear Rainforest.

Coast Bear Tours at BC Mountain Lodge

With ever increasing interest in the Bella Coola Valley and the incredible wilderness experiences of the Great Bear Rainforest and Tweedsmuir Park, which flank our lodge to the west and east... it seemed logical that we incorporate interpretive hikes in Tweedsmuir Park as part of our holiday and adventure tourism packages in Bella Coola Valley.

With a local naturalist as a guide and the westcoast wilderness as a backdrop, let your imagination run wild in pristine grizzly bear habitat and endulge yourself on an unforgetable experience and chance to see wildlife, untouched forests, soaring mountain peeks and swooping eagles of the Bella Coola Valley!

These guided hiking tours are available for private (2 guest) or group tours (max 4 guests) by reservation. Please contact Bella Coola Mountain Lodge to reserve a spot for your land-based Bella Coola ecological-wildlife excursion!

Bear Awareness in Bella Coola

Ya the Tittle may echo Old Punk, but the message is clearly New Age.... lets help get our fruit off of the residential trees and bushes of Bella Coola Vallay before the bears are attracted to it and become food conditioned, which is ultimately a bad thing.

Bella Coola Valley is striving to become a Bear Smart Community, limiting negative interactions between bears and humans, and protecting bears and humans from uncomfortable interactions.

There are six criteria that need to be satisfied for a district or municipality to achieve "Bear Smart" status:

1/ Prepare a Bear Hazard Assessment using the criteria outlined.

2/ Prepare a bear-human conflict management plan designed to

address the bear hazards and land-use conflicts identified in the

hazard assessment.

3/ Revise planning and decision-making documents to be

consistent with the bear-human conflict management plan.

4/ Implement a continuing education program directed at all sectors

of the community.

5/ Develop and maintain a bear-proof municipal solid waste

management system.

6/ Implement "Bear Smart" bylaws prohibiting the provision of

food to bears as a result of intent, neglect, or irresponsible

management of attractants.

While it is a challenge to incorporate these types of ecological and sustainable ideas into a newly flourishing tourism-based community, several locals are trying their best and we hope to see a swing towards bear-human sustainability in our small yet pristine ecosystem in the near future.

Bella Coola's Coast Mountain lodge and Kynoch Adventures does its part by ridding trees of excess fruit, keeping a clean lodge grounds and exposing visitors to natural wonders of the rain forest ecosystem that will hopefully inspire them to maintain proper bear-etiquette..

Bc Mountain Lodge New review

I never know what's around the next corner in the Bella Coola Valley. I have been working at the Coast Mountain Lodge for two months now, and am continually surprised, delighted and sometimes frightened by my daily adventures. Upon my arrival I was excited to find that I could ride my bicycle to the local organic market, fish store, and secluded picnic areas. I then ventured out a little further, to some of the surrounding forest access roads. These old logging roads offer access deep into the forest, stunning vistas, and many opportunities to run into bears. Literally. If you plan on riding in the Bella Coola Valley get a group together or go with a local guide. It is advisable to ride during the mid day when bears are less likely to be feeding along the road, and make noise when approaching blind corners!

Bears, crows and all things coastal

It is bear viewing season in Bella Coola again and so far we are averaging 100% for Grizzly Bear viewing in Tweedsmuir Park. Our river and land based tours are proving to be the hit we know they are once again and we have had dozens of happy clients already.

Some of the bears we see are return residents from previous seasons, being cubs of mothers (sows) or young adolescents of previous years. Others are always new animals, offering new experiences for visitors and guides, but never disappointing. Today for example we bumped into a charming young bear that was more than happy to swim in front of our boat and do a little 'salmon snorkeling' demonstration for us.

Then on the other-hand, bears don't necessarily deserve all of the glory, we also bumped into this exceptional young crow on our ec0-rafting tour. Believe me, as a guide, when you say to your guests ' hey look at me, I have a crow on my head...' you want to be able to deliver! The crow didn't dissaopoint anyone. (Yes it actually just landed on my head!).

Well it has been three weeks since the floodwaters have receded from the Bella Coola Valley floor.

While our lodge was not damaged in a substantial manner, we regret that several other homes, farms and businesses did not fare so well.
Without getting into details of the flood and the aftermath, the staff and friends of Bella Coola Mountain Lodge and Kynoch Adventures wish all of the valley residents, friends and visitors the best in the future, and a speedy recovery to regain their lives.

Being a resilient community we anticipate a full recovery to pre-flood conditions by early next year and will be operating business as usual for the remainder of 2010 in preparation for an exceptional 2011 tourism and wilderness season in Bella Coola Valley!

See you all in 2011.
Cheers, from Fraser, Holly, Annika, Alecia and staff at CML and Kynoch Adventures!

New Name, nothing else

Hi everyone, owing to certain unforeseen circumstances, we will change our name a little bit to our new name Bella Coola Mountain Lodge.

This also means our website will change to www.bcmountainlodge.com and our e-mail contact info will change to info@bcmountainlodge.com.

We'll keep everyone posted on these events, but as for now enjoy our blog.