British Columbia Wilderness & Urban Adventures

The countdown in ON! Hubby has prepared a vacation checklist, and we are starting on the many tasks of preparing for our first big vacation of the year. Our upcoming trip will be our first Natural Habitat Adventures tour. We know others who have used this tour operator, and the company also has a great reputation in the travel industry. They bill themselves as the world’s premier nature travel company, dedicated to providing their guests with the planet’s greatest nature expeditions.

Along with seven other travelers and a tour guide, we will be visiting one of the best wilderness destinations of British Columbia to see wildlife and stunning mountain vistas. After initially flying into Vancouver, we’ll fly up to Bella Coola (located about midway between Vancouver and Ketchikan, Alaska - see the map below), and then travel by road to our base destination. We’ll be staying at Tweedsmuir Park Lodge, nestled on 60 acres of private wilderness land within Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. The lodge is situated near the base of an 8000 foot rock peak, suitably named Mt. Stupendous, and adjacent to the Atnarko River.

Thanks to glaciers along the vast mountain peaks, the park area has plentiful rivers which trace a path through ancient forests of cedar, hemlock and fir. The region has abundant wildlife and is known for salmon, eagles, and bears. Of course, we will have our cameras handy throughout the trip! We are especially looking forward to seeing grizzly bears feed on salmon, while we safely share the rivers in a boat. Growl!!!

This is NOT your typical tourist vacation. But we adore adventure travel and want to do as much of it as we can while our senior bodies still allows it. As Saint Peter calls our name for our final trip, we are determined that our last words will not contain the phrase “if only”. We want to be saying “wow, that was a blast!”

On the second half of the trip, we’ll be touring on our own in the heart of Vancouver, home of the last Winter Olympics. A beautiful downtown hotel will serve as our “base camp” while we explore the area and soak up some urban chic-style wilderness.

Our trip will be at the end of the month. It’s oh-so close now!