Granisle

JULY 7, 2009 – It felt good to get to Granisle, say hello to good friends here, and to have a “real roof” over our heads. Once here, we had several home improvement projects to do including putting hardwood flooring in the bedroom, grout shower tile in the new bath, replace some baseboards and door facings, planting rail planters, and weeding flower and raspberry beds. On my first trip into town for groceries, I snapped pictures of the bear and moose I saw along the road. We enjoyed celebrating both Granisle Days and Canada Day including parade, cookouts in the park, and the traditional flag raising by the RCMP decked out in their colorful, formal uniform. Then it was time to get serious about preparing to go to the ocean. We plan to launch at Kitimat BC on July 9th and spend a week or so exploring coves and flats around Princess Royal Island in hopes of seeing the Kermode bears. Kermode bears are a subspecies of the black bears unique to a specific area on the BC coast and referred to as the “Spirit Bear” by the native populations. You can read more about the Kermode at the following website (http://www.kermode-terrace-bc.com/spiritbear.html). We hope to have pictures of the Kermodes to post on our own website.