Canada's Largest Rainforest Is A Unique Coastal Landscape Full Of Ancient Trees, Fjords, And Bears

It may sound hard to believe that a country as far north as Canada has vast swaths of rainforest, but one of the world's largest unfurls across the western Canadian shoreline. It isn't the tropical rainforest we often imagine with sweltering jungle and jaguars. Instead, Canada's rainforests are temperate, characterized by towering coniferous trees, milder temperatures, and remote fjords. The Great Bear Rainforest is the largest in Canada, stretching across the British Columbia coast. Something tropical and temperate rainforests have in common is an abundance of wildlife, and Canada's is prowled by bears, bald eagles, and stunning seabirds. 

The backbone of the Great Bear Rainforest is its trees, providing a home for wildlife and playing an integral role in the rainforest food web. Among them are 1,000-year-old red cedar trees and Sitka spruces that loom nearly 300 feet tall. The trees are enmeshed in their coastal ecosystem: Nutrients from spawning Pacific salmon are carried into the forest by bears, enriching the soil and helping sustain the old-growth forest. 

The Great Bear Rainforest is often recognized for its size, not just in relation to Canada but also the world. The Government of British Columbia notes that it's the largest surviving coastal temperate rainforest in the world, sweeping over 6.4 million hectares (equal to about 15.8 million acres), with glacier-cut fjords dotting the edge of the Pacific. Canada partially encompasses the Inland Temperate Rainforest, too, which covers 40 million acres, but that forest also extends into the United States, making the Great Bear Rainforest the largest of its kind contained within Canada. 

Some of the most impressive landscapes of the Great Bear Rainforest emerge from its meeting point with the sea: its coastal fjords. If you want to get up close to these fjords, you might head to Bella Coola, a valley that British Columbia's municipal website calls the gateway to the Great Bear Rainforest. It sits at the crease of a long fjord named the North Bentinck Arm, where the fjord system reaches further inland and makes you feel truly dwarfed between the steep rock faces. You could take a sea kayaking tour with Aegir Adventures — an operator with 5 stars on Google Maps — and paddle amidst a view of branching estuaries and rainforest-draped mountains. Or, you could partake in Nuxalk Totem Stories, a guided walk among totems, where you can learn about the Nuxalk people, an Indigenous community in the Bella Coola Valley.

Further north in the rainforest is Douglas Channel, a string of fjords leading into the town of Kitimat. If there's one reason to make the trek up to this corner, it's for seeing its symphony of whales: The Douglas Channel is one of the best destinations for whale-watching you can find in the Great Bear Rainforest. It has Canada's highest concentration of humpback and fin whales, according to Hakai Magazine. The Kitimat Lodge, a rustic hotel with 4.7 stars from Google Maps, offers whale-watching tours where you can witness humpback whale pods rounding up herring to feed on.

One of the Great Bear Rainforest's most intriguing inhabitants — and one of the world's most elusive creatures — is the spirit bear, also known as a Kermode bear. Neither a polar bear nor an albino expression of another species, spirit bears are rare, naturally white bears that live largely in the Great Bear Rainforest, though only about 100 of them remain, as reported by CNN. Spirit bears are concentrated on Princess Royal Island and Gribbell Island, according to The Starfish Canada, both of which are south of Kitimat. There's no guarantee you'll spot a spirit bear, but a couple of reviewers shared having some success with the Spirit Bear Lodge tours. These tours are multi-day excursions into the wilderness of the Great Bear Rainforest in search of the legendary bears. The lodge also offers overnight accommodations and has 4.7 stars from Google Maps reviews.

Getting to the Spirit Bear Lodge, or to any of the spirit bear's islands for that matter, requires some trekking. You fly into the Bella Bella Airport from Vancouver, followed by a shuttle to the dock and then a boat to the islands. The only urban hub within the Great Bear Rainforest is Prince Rupert. You can reach the northern city with BC Ferries from Vancouver Island, fly in by seaplane, or take a VIA Rail train. The train line connects all the way to Jasper, Alberta, Canada's postcard-worthy mountain town with alpine lakes.