fish creek bear watch

Its just as good as spending hundreds of $ to see bears feeding in the river and you can drive right up to the place just be careful of the bears walking all over even the parking lot by the rest rooms. Some people spend days there taking pictures

Even though it was getting to the end of the salmon run, when we got to Hyder in September, 2014, we watched a female grizzly munch on the huge salmon going up fish creek to spawn. Walking along a special board walk that puts you right near the bears above the creek, is breath taking. In fact the bears appear to think they are on display and perform accordingly. Hyder is across the Canadian/American boarder from Stewart. It is about 500 metres from Canada. There is no way out. You have to come back through the border and check into Canada again. If you are fortunate, you can see black bears as well as the occasional wolf.The road into Stewart, is wonderful with beautiful glaciers coming off the mountain range and down to the road. On this road we also saw a black bear that ignored passing traffic and calmly walked towards us while we sat in awe. The bear came within six feet of the car, ignoring us completely.We really recommend this awe inspiring event, in late August and early September.There is a $5.00 a day visiting fee, parking near the kiosk where you pay and if that's full, a big parking area past the gate entrance. The walk to the gate is on a wooden boardwalk, over looking the creek with spawning salmon very visible.

Many spawning salmon. Many human visitors. Many photographers. One bear. Beautiful site, well managed by the forest service. Helpful personnel. Long drive from about anywhere.

When travelling from Stewart to Hyder you only go through customs when coming back into Canada. We arrived at the bear watch at 7:20 PM and waited until 8:05PM until we was a large black female bear come out to feed on the salmon. It was worth the wait. The next morning my husband went out around 8:30AM and saw both a bear and a wolf feeding on the salmon. This is a Federal park so you have to pay to enter the viewing platform.

We saw 4 big grizzlies over the 2 days we went to the boardwalk. We found the best viewing times to be from 6-9pm at night. It is also recommended to attend from 6-9am, but we never any saw during that time. we stayed 2 nites in the area and visited once in the morning and once in the evening. Incredible experience. I talk about it to everyone I know! You are up on a boardwalk overlooking the creek, and there are rangers present. I never felt in danger, but make sure you listen to the Rangers and remember THEY ARE WILD ANIMALS.Admission is a meager $5 per person for a fantastic experience. Your best chances of seeing the bears are during peak salmon spawning, I believe mid July through August. Do some research and try to pick peak spawning times, when the most bears will be fishing. And be patient, it can take hours to see a bear. Best of luck!

I had some free time in BC and decided to take a spontaneous road trip to Hyder, Alaska. The drive up was stunning with several bear sightings along the way - so many that I decided to nix my camping plans and opt for a stay at a hotel!The border official recommended Fish Creek, and luckily for me, it was the salmon run. I have never seen so many bears in one place or been so close.Yes, there was a big crowd with many MANY tripods shuffling to and fro and at one point the constant commotion seemed to upset two bears who found their way behind the boardwalk (and at eye level!). I was so close I could see one of the bears breath as he snarled at us. The spectators were so photo hungry and totally oblivious to the fact that these animals are unpredictable and could have easily jumped the fence. In my opinion, this was the only drawback of the experience- and why I rated it a 4/5.I feel so lucky to have accidentally found myself at the fish creek - and at such a great time of the season.

The facilities are perfect and the boardwalk is wide. Unfortunately, we arrived after the major salmon run, so the only grizzly I saw was a distance down the stream. However, the day before, some viewers got great photos of wolves chasing a bear across the stream, road, and up the mountain! Then, the wolves were catching the salmon. Sorry we missed it.

Wonderful location and scenery with black and brown bears fishing salmons. Only con is perhaps the crowd.

We visited the Bear Watch several times over about 3 days on a recent visit to the area. We only got to see one young grizzly, and he didn't really try very hard to catch fish. The fish themselves were interesting, but I was hoping for more of a show. (I do realize that these are not trained bears putting on a scheduled show, but from what some other people had said, I did expect to see a little more action.)

Just outside the small British Columbia town of Stewart you pass through the Alaskan border town of Hyder. Both are small, turn of the century fishing and logging villages with tons of character and history. Of course the scenery is just spectacular with glaciers, waterfalls, rugged mountains and the ocean.Travel a few miles down a well-maintained gravel road and you will find Fish Creek and the Fish Creek Alaskan Brown Grizzly viewing platforms. The Alaskan Forestry Service operates the viewing area.It is very well organized and laid out perfectly for safely viewing these bears as they feed on migrating salmon spawning in the river. The platforms also offer some degree of privacy for the feeding bears preventing them from becoming acclimatized to human interaction. There is a small entrance fee for the area. During the salmon spawn on Fish Creek you are almost guaranteed to see these magnificent animals stalk and catch salmon. However, depending on the salmon numbers, you may have to wait a few hours patiently visiting the numerous visitors until the bears come along. If you’re lucky you may see a wolf or two hunting these salmon. Best times for viewing are early in the morning and evenings before dark. The whole trip to Stewart and the visit to Fish Creek are well worth the extra drive.