To atone for my earlier post snafu, I bring you one of my prize photographs from my trip to the Great Bear Rainforest in September 2013. The Great Bear Rainforest, in British Columbia, Canada, is one of the largest coastal temperate rain forests in the world, and home to the spirit bear.

The spirit bear, also called the Kermode bear, is not a polar bear or an albino. It is a white variant of the North American black bear; kind of like red hair in humans. About 100 of the bears are thought to exist. You can read more about the spirit bear here.
That is a great bear photo, of an unusual bear!
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Thank you, Bente! I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to capture his image.
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Very nice shot. However, I have a thing about bears. While others get antsy around alligators, snakes, spiders whatever, it’s bears that make my skin crawl. Sometimes, of course, there are news stories of people getting mauled or devoured by bears, my worst nightmare. Grizzlies are absolutely huge. To be avoided, especially by me. I see nothing spiritual in them which is, I guess, one reason I don’t live in Taos.
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We only saw grizzlies from afar, Felipe. We were a safe distance away on the boat. The black bears and Kermode were magnificent. They were fishing for salmon, which were spawning. They had no interest in us, other than mild curiosity. I have a planned post with more photos, and a detailed explanation of the adventure that day. It will be entitled: Surrounded By Bears. Avoid it if it makes you nervous. 😉
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Beautiful.
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Yes, he was!
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Thank you for the explanation – I wondered looking at the earlier photo (Yin and Yang post) what a “spirit bear” could be, now I know.
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I’d never heard of them before I became interested in this trip, Fran. They were quite majestic.
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What a super photo of a rather fine being!
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Thank you! I got so excited, I nearly missed him. I have numerous out-of-focus shots, but I managed a few.
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How amazing! Beautiful photo. Is it relatively easy to see one of these bears if you visit this rainforest? Or did you just get very lucky?
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Thank you! If you read the link to the National Geographic article, the same guide the article mentions was our guide. Even the guide is not a sure thing, but since the salmon were spawning, our odds were pretty good. We sat for many hours that day, and were well rewarded.
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