Wild, handled with care

Built on a barge, this floating lodge, with its spa, two-story stone fireplace, and cathedral ceilings, gets towed 100 miles down the coast each spring from its wintering grounds in the port city of Prince Rupert to Princess Royal Island on the province's central coast. From May to September, it is moored next to a cascading waterfall in Barnard Harbour, a horseshoe-shaped bay that's backed by the Coast Mountains and surrounded by impenetrable forest, where emerald-green moss engulfs the cedar and fir trees.

Guests here can explore high-alpine ice fields, remote rivers teeming with salmon, and uninhabited islands with white sandy beaches and wildlife found only in this part of the world. The Kermode bear, or "spirit bear" as it is known by the local Gitga'at people, wanders the forests and can often be spotted hunting for salmon spawning in the area's rivers come September. What makes this black bear unique is its ivory coloring, the result of a double-recessive gene.

"In First Nations' tradition, the Raven created the world and created man, and the legend is that the Raven made every 10th bear white to remind him of the time when the land was covered in ice and snow," said Norm Hann, who developed King Pacific Lodge's adventure program, trains its guides, and runs customized trips in the area through his company, Tantalus Adventures.

When I visited in July, the guests ranged in age from 13 to mid-70s, and included a honeymoon couple, a family celebrating their nephew's graduation, and travelers from as far away as Brazil and Pierburg's homeland. We arrived at this classy, rustic resort by floatplane from Prince Rupert, an hour away.

After a champagne welcome and lunch, we branched off in different directions for an afternoon of adventure. Some kayaked around islands where seals and sea otters played, hiked along pristine rivers in search of black bears, or trolled for salmon and halibut in nearby fiords. Others went on helicopter adventures, accessing remote rivers to hook salmon or trout, or getting dropped off in the wilderness for guided hikes to peaks yet to be named.