by Tracey Rayson, reprinted with permission.
Tracey Rayson is a free lance travel writer living in Coquitlam, B.C. She can be reached at tlrayson@yahoo.com.

I am in the northern region of British Columbia in the heart of the Kitimat Valley. This is grizzly bear territory and I am knee deep in their habitat, waiting and wading among the highest concentration of pink salmon the Skeena River has seen in years, maybe decades.

That is encouraging, even settling news to me. My guide, Fred Seiler, assures me that the salmon serve the bears' need for sustenance. "There is such an abundant food source in the river; the pinks, the cohos, the chums, the chinooks - these bears don't view us as a meal," says Seiler. Good to know, but I carry bear repellent as a precaution. Seiler totes a 12 gauge.