A grizzly gift

20-plus years ago, when I was working as a field biologist, someone asked me if I would be interested in working as a guide at a grizzly bear viewing lodge in the Great Bear Rainforest. At the time, I had no idea this kind of thing was even an option. I grew up in Ontario, and knew very little about the Great Bear Rainforest. It seemed so exotic as to be out of reach. 

I was told that up to 50 grizzly bears used the area near this lodge seasonally. The job would be to explain coastal ecology and keep people safe while they watched all those bears chasing salmon around. I was sure I was not qualified for that. 

But was I interested? Resoundingly and emphatically, yes! Though, it sounded too good to be true.  It seemed perposterous that someone would pay me to live in a floating lodge in a stunning coastal fjord while I spent my days watching grizzly bears and other coastal wildlife. I figured it was a scam. I mean, if I had any money, I would have paid them for the opportunity. 

As it turned out, it was not a scam. It was a gift. For some reason, they hired me. When I started, I felt like I had stepped inside National Geographic Channel – except that it was live. For the first six months on the job, my jaw remained unhinged, my mind boggled. Now, 20 years into working as a guide in the Great Bear Rainforest, that first job is the gift that keeps on giving.