September 20, 2014
Hiking Day
September 20, 2014
The plan for today was an offroad drive followed by a hike. We got up kind of early, after all, with the 3 hour time difference, it was actually kind of late - haha. Sue made us a good scrambled egg breakfast to fuel us for the day. It was a slow bumpy ride up the mountainside. Sue drove us up the and I would drive us back down. You actually drive all the way to the summit of the mountain and pass over it and drive down the other side somewhat. On the southwest slope of the mountain lie two beautiful lakes. The first lake is right next to where you park. This is Blue Jay Lake. The trail head to Grey Jay Lake starts here and the hike out to that winds through some interesting countryside. 
We hiked out to Grey Jay Lake and continued passed that where we were promised an amazing view of the North and South Bentinck Arms. These would be the ocean inlets that lead into the Bella Coola valley. It was a beautiful day. Temperatures were perfect and the sun shining bright. After we got passed Grey Jay, the trail got a little confusing. Seemed we'd somehow missed a turn or something, but there was a weak trail down the hillside, caused by other lost hikers or wildlife. We forged ahead unknowning and eventually rejoined the defined trail that we should have been on the entire time. This trail lead down a steep mountainside and eventually the trees cleared and the view was as amazing as promised. The trail came to rest/viewing area with some trees down for easy sitting perches. Far, far below us were a couple boats moving across the water. Behind them stood a majestic and commanding mountain with glaciers drifting down it's creavases. 
Just gorgeaous, all of it. We stayed here for a while and had a quick powerbar snack. Evetually time to head back. We followed the trail back up the steep incline and discovered the 90° right turn we had missed on the way down. It was very unclear that you were suppose to turn there, and I would image many people miss this turn. It all worked out fine though. We forged back to the Jeep, stopping and taking photos and sucking in the scenery as we hiked. Back in the Jeep was out lunch, and by now we were both very excited to get back and sit down for some lunch. We sat at a picnic table next to Blue Jay Lake and took it all in as we ate. Just beautiful.
All your senses are a little elevated in grizzly country. There is always the possiblility of a bear encounter at any time. This tended to keep both Sue and I on a watchful alert kind of state while in the woods. It's a feeling that you don't really get in places where the top of the food chain isn't out and about with ya. After lunch, I took the wheel and we started up and over the summit to start working our way back down the other side.
There was another short hike we planned to do on the other side. This hike would take us out to M Gurr Lake. If we felt up for it, fromthat lake we could hike up to another scenic lookout. We were both a bit tired and we made it up to M Gurr Lake, but Sue was real tired, and I had had enough also, so we skipped the hike to the top. We just didn't have it in us so we started back down. At one point on the hike back down, Sue slipped in some mud. As she got up we both glanced at her knee which looked to be a bloody mess. She started laughing as she realized that she had gone down in some berries, and all that red blood looking goo was berry juice. She was fine and we continued on down the trail. Again back at the Jeep, I drove us farther off the mountain. At one point, there was a flash of a big bird that swooped by. I looked closer and up in the tree was a barred owl glancing down at the us, as if waiting for us to pass. 
I grabbed the camera and hopped out and this little guy was more than happy to put on a show. He did the usual owl head-bob thing and fluttered from branch to branch. He was fixed on the ground and at one point a squirrel dashed across the road and down he came, missing it by inches. We now knew he was looking for a meal, so we said goodbye and continues on down the road.
Hiking Day
