The grizzly bear – seldom seen, misunderstood and represented only by huge tracks on a sandbar – was but a shadowy presence in the early years of our clubs history. Members of the Pemberton Wildlife Association (formed in 1962) have always admired the big bears which roamed the back country surrounding the Pemberton Valley, but we were in the dark. Where did they hang out? What did they eat? Where did they make their winter dens? We had wandered the local mountains for years and built up a wealth of local grassroots knowledge, but the details simply weren’t there.