北BC州のワイルドなバンライフ：グリズリー、スピリットベア、そして雨の魔法

北BC州のワイルドなバンライフ：グリズリー、スピリットベア、そして雨の魔法

Van life in northern British Columbia isn’t 
always easy. It’s wet. It’s remote and it’s completely wild. But this stretch of our 
journey has been unforgettable. So cool. Big ole grizzly. This spot! Oh my gosh. Van life 
doesn’t always lead to perfect sunsets or sunny days. But sometimes if you’re lucky, it leads to 
something even better. I love you British Columbia! Come along as we explore northern British 
Columbia. If you’re new here, I’m Emily. This is Brian and our adventure pup Wez. We’ve been 
living on the road full-time in our converted Sprinter van since July 2024. This is our adventure 
out there. Hey everyone! We’re continuing our trip up towards Alaska. We are currently in beautiful 
British Columbia. We’re standing on the tallest suspension bridge in British Columbia right now. 
We’re enjoying all the beauty she’s throwing at us. The mountains are starting to get bigger. There 
is rain in the forecast for about the next week. So why not make our way to the rainiest city in all 
of North America. Let’s see what happens! So here we are. We’re in Prince Rupert, the 
rainiest city in all of North America. On average it receives about 100 inches of rain 
a year. Um, when we got here it was really coming down. Right now it’s not raining. 
But I would say when it’s not raining,   it is still raining somewhere, in this area. 
We were going to stay in a campground here but it’s quite flooded. So I think we’re 
going to go find some dispersed camping   in a fjord. Let’s go! I got you a prize, you 
weirdo. What you get? Ketchup flavored chips. Uhhhhhh…. I know they’re Canadian but I’m not 
quite sure how I feel about these. You like ketchup. I do love ketchup but, we’ll 
have to try these later. I got you some   Cheezies too! Okay…. These are good. These, if 
you guys have never had these. 1,000 times better than, Cheetos. Sorry not sorry. So cool. Big ole grizzly, chewing on something over 
there. Eating some grass. He’s big boy, girl. Wow. Big one After some contemplating, I think we are going 
to move on to another spot. Obviously we know the further we get into Canada and even Alaska 
like, brown bear are just, they’re there. They’re everywhere. But seeing one literally 50 yards 
from camp, we’re not really feeling it. Um, we have Wez with us and he’s gonna have to go out every 
now and then. We just don’t want him to have an encounter. We don’t want to have an encounter. We’re 
going to be cooking food. Some of these campsites aren’t that clean, there’s some trash left in the 
fire rings and stuff. So he’s probably going to make his way over here and I think we’re just 
going to avoid that whole situation. And we’ll go play ignorance somewhere else and where we 
don’t see one so close to camp. What do you think? I agree. I think just eliminating any possible 
chance, right? Yeah. Knowing he’s so close and he’s eating, he’s, he’s hungry. He’s a big boy. He’s 
big boy. No cubs which, that’s good. But I just think it’s going to be one of those nights where we’re 
constantly on edge, right? Wondering how close he is.   Is he outside of the van when we let Wez out? 
Well we know he lives here. Yeah this is his area. He’s a big boy. He’s got some, some battle damage 
on his left chonk. So I think we’ll push on. Well this is more like it. Definitely home for the   night, maybe two. And I think Wez is 
going to approve for sure. What do you think? Are we level? Oh! We’re pretty level. Seeing that grizzly bear in the wild was so freaking special. We’ve seen grizzlies before, you know we went to Katmai last year and then we saw them also when we were in Haines. 
But to just roll up on a bear like that, just munching on the grass. And didn’t care at all 
that we were there. And he probably wouldn’t have bothered us if we did stay there last night. 
As Brian mentioned, you know the right thing to   do was, just for us to move on knowing that we 
were in his home. He had already occupied that campsite. And we always weigh you know, any risks, 
safety risks for us, for Wez, for the bear, when we’re looking at sites like that. So, we’ll have 
to go back there maybe a different day. But in the meantime you know, we were trying to figure 
out where else to camp. I did some additional research and found this spot. And we rolled up 
on this, with that turquoise river right there. This is probably easily in my top 10 favorite 
campsites, if not five. We’ll see over the next few days as we stay here. You know it’s 
kind of lightly raining right now. I think   it’s supposed to do that probably on and 
off. But this looks like a pretty amazing spot. I’m glad to call it home for a few days. 
British Columbia! I love you British Columbia! It’s been raining most of the day here today. We 
were hoping to do Dutch oven fire. Instead we’re   going to cook inside tonight. And tonight we’re 
having Canada’s official pasta dish, KD. Known in Lower 48 as Craft Mac and Cheese. And then I 
got to put my own little twist on it of course. Too much of a good thing? I think not. Bon Appetit. Sometimes there really is nothing 
better. Been a pretty long, fun exciting day. Uh, between Prince Rupert and then 
running into our new bear friend. To finding this awesome spot. Hopefully 
tomorrow we can just kind of relax   a little bit more and enjoy it. And 
check back in with you then. Good night… Good morning. Had a really peaceful night here   at camp. It rained lightly all 
night, it might do it all day. Uh, hopefully not because we’d like to do some 
Dutch oven cooking. So we will see. First things first. Coffee. Whoa. Okay, the people have spoke and I’m listening. 
I’m going to try different methods of making coffee now. Did some research with the AeroPress. 
Now I understand why some of you were saying I was doing it upside down. Makes total 
sense. So I’m going to try the pour over method. Then I’m going to try the pour over and then plunge 
method. And then I’m going to do a comparison and see which way works better for me. So before 
um, you all said I was doing it upside down. I really didn’t understand what, what that meant. So I 
figured it out because I watched some stuff online. I was putting my grounds in that way, pouring 
in the water and then letting it brew. And it is a method, but I guess it’s an espresso method. 
So I’m going to try the pour over method which is. Oh! And I also forgot that I have these little 
filters, so I’m going to double filter mine to keep grounds from going in. And I’ve got the re, 
reusable filter, this one and then that should keep the grounds out. So this is what you guys 
were saying I should be doing. So put the grounds in this way. Make a big mess, cuz that’s what I 
do. And today like I said I’m going to do the pour over method. I’m not going to use the plunger 
today. And I think I’m going to do this step twice. The coffee starts to drip right away, 
right? So I’m afraid it’s not going to   be quite strong enough. Maybe I’m wrong? And 
then I’ll put some hot water in to fill my cup. When this is done. Excited to try this 
different way, couple different ways. Maybe my coffee has just been garbage for the past 
year. I’ve just been dealing with it. Okay, cheers! Okay… That’s really good. It’s delicious. I 
think doing the pour over twice maybe made it a little strong for my, my taste. But it’s 
good. It definitely has a different flavor   than the way I was doing it before. Sometimes 
the way I was doing it before was like, cowboy! It was, it was hard coffee. This is really 
good. But I do think I need to try it with   just one pour over and I think that might 
be a solid cup of coffee. Thank you for the suggestions. I thought we left the beach 
behind but, the beach has followed us to Canada. And so has the sand. Always sand. And dog 
hair. Always, it’s our life. Life in the van. This will definitely help me sleep tonight. I think 
last night was the first real buggy night with the little “no seeums.” Just a lot of sand has gotten into 
our bed. So, be nice not sleeping on sandpaper and hopefully not getting eaten by bugs again. Welcome 
to the north. Today is a two cup of coffee kind of day. This time I’m going to do a single 
pour over. Last time I filled this up twice and let it brew. I’m just going to do it one time. The last 
cup was pretty strong, let’s see how this one pans out. Single pour over. That’s, okay that’s 
way better than the double pour. That’s just a, just a perfect amount of bitterness. That’s a good cup 
of jitter juice. Tomorrow I’m going to do the same single pour, but I will do the plunger tomorrow. 
And that will be the end of my experiment. It’s only like 4. But maybe we should get dinner   going sooner than later. Because I think it 
might rain again. Yeah I think the skies are supposed to open up. Yeah and I mean we could 
cook dinner inside tonight but, I love a Dutch oven. I know, it’s been a while. Yeah. And what are 
we having? Oh, one of our favorites. We are doing some Italian soup tonight. No green chilies, sorry 
to disappoint. It’s okay. All right, you ready? This is definitely 
going to be a two-parter. Wow. I have more stuff for you. I could get it, I always give you a hard time. Okay, one more. Can you do one more? Heck yeah! We need utensil. Yeah. I dropped the bacon. The rain’s coming. Did we wait too long? We’ve still got about a half an hour for this to cook. Time to check the taters. Burn my face off? Probably. Oh they’re done. Cooked? Done. Mmmm, oh that broth. Oh I’m so 
excited for this Dutch oven soup! It’s one of our favorites. And I can tell you what, we wouldn’t be 
doing this if we were camping next to that grizzly bear still. Definitely be an inside couple of days, 
that’s for sure. Not saying there’s not a bear or grizzly around here, we just don’t know they’re 
here. Which maybe ignorance is bliss? But we also have like a perfect 360 view around us. We’re not 
like, deep in the woods. We can see you know, pretty much in every single direction here. So at least 
you’ve got a little bit of a fighting chance if   one were to come up on you. Because you’d see him 
coming from from a pretty far, far distance away. I think Popeye would approve. It’s actually supposed 
to have kale in it. But like, we couldn’t find any kale up here in the grocery store that wasn’t 
like, basically a family size bag. So this will work. Does it need to go back on the fire? I mean, 
at this point it basically just needs to wilt. You hungry? Yes, please! The rain 
subsided. This is going to be great. Thank you. Look at that. Mhmm. 
Let’s eat. Perfect rainy weather, dinner. That is really good. Pretty easy clean 
up tonight. The soup came out of the Dutch   oven without really sticking. Uh, to re season it 
we use Crisco. We use that over grape seed oil. Grape seed oil we found leaves a taste that we 
don’t really want in our food. This really doesn’t. And it doesn’t spoil either, we haven’t had it 
ever spoil. So I just take a little of this, put it in the cleanish pot. And then I’ll throw it 
over the fire let it get really hot. Pull it out, do a quick wipe. Put a little more Crisco in 
there, call it good. If there’s anything that is left on the sides anything that did stick. When 
this cooks off it usually comes right out. All right, let’s let this get really hot. All right, pulled it off. Wiping away the oil.
It got really hot. Now, I’ll put just another very small coat of oil on here and that’s it. I’ll let 
it cool down on its own and I’ll put it back in its bag and back in the van. Easy peasy. All right, 
I think we did that just in time. It’s starting to rain, it’s really starting to come down now. 
So we’re going to get packed up and hopefully nothing goes in the van soaking wet. I think it’s 
going to be a movie night tonight, which is fine. We haven’t watched a movie in a while. We 
haven’t. We’ve had some really long drive days. Well it doesn’t get dark here 
till 10:30 now. I know. All right, I’ll get this buttoned up out here. Okay. Wez you 
want to come up? You want to go inside? ILY. It’s movie night. We’re going to try these 
ketchup chips. Which means snack night. I   didn’t mean to get the veggie chips. Yeah. 
They’re Veggie Crisps. But, so we used to have, when I was in Korea a long long time 
ago. They had like, ketchup flavored Lays and ketchup flavored Ruffles. And I never 
tried them. But it’s a thing here in Canada,   apparently. Can you guys see this? Looks 
like a mini Ruffle. Little bit, yeah. It’s veggie. Okay. They’re tangy. That’s pretty good. 
They’re not bad. I think maybe we need to try like the actual like, I’m pretty sure like, Lays? 
Yeah. Lays potato chips. Oh Ruffles, yeah. Makes them we should try these. But question for all 
of our wonderful Canadian friends. What’s your favorite snack here in Canada? We already 
covered what is the unofficial pasta dish, craft dinner last night. Uh, poutine. Poutine. 
The Cheezies. We love the Cheezies, from the gas station. Yeah. What’s like another good, 
gas station food that uh, is popular up here in Canada? Road trip snacks. Let us know, put a 
comment below and. We’ll look for them. Let’s get a movie going. All right, that’s pretty good. 
Yeah they are good, I like them. They’re tangy. Brian forgot to turn the game cam on. So 
he’s out here in his budgy smugglers. Cuz tonight would be the night a bear would walk by. You’re looking at my bum? Good night. Good morning. Today I’m going to conclude my AeroPress 
experiments. Um, thank you everyone for your suggestions and for letting me know that the way 
I was doing it before might have been a little   unconventional. Today I’m going to do a pour over 
with the plunger. So I’m going to let it sit for about 30 seconds, put the plunger in let it sit 
for another about 2 minutes and then plunge it in. And then see how this goes. All right it’s been 
2 minutes, I’m going to plunge the goodness in there. Mmm. That’s some pretty good jitter juice.   I think that method is probably the keeper. 
It’s got a little more bite than just pouring it over. That’s really good. I can taste, I can 
actually taste the coffee. All right, cheers guys. Man, this spot is going to be hard to leave. 
This is such a beautiful location and I’m pretty sure that we’ll probably be coming back here. But 
it’s raining. And it’s time for us to carry on and get closer to the Cassiar Highway. We still 
have a lot of work to do before we hit that   really remote section of highway. We’re going 
to head into the town of Terrace, to run some errands. And I think this drive out 
of here might be a little sloppy. Oh, come back buddy! Oh! That was 
a black bear, right in the road! Three bears! Well, three total I should say. What do you think Wez? Do 
you see that big black bear? Oh my gosh! We just saw a blonde cub. Oh my god! Is he on two legs? Wow! Wow you guys, look at this blonde cub! Oh… Are we in National Geographic? Oh my gosh. You guys. Stay here if you can. This is incredible! Oh look there’s another cub! I thought I saw, oh   there’s another one back there. How 
many cubs are there? Oh my gosh. That was, one of the coolest 
things we have ever experienced. I got flashed by a logging truck. And then um, 
noticed that there was a a bear on the side of the road. When we passed that bear we saw that there 
was a very young blonde bear which was really neat to see. So we turned on our flashers because there 
was traffic going in both directions, turned around um, got up and close to them. There were actually 
three cubs down there eating some kind of berry with mama. Like, what a special moment that was. 
I’ll remember that forever. Absolutely. Man that was cool. Between the grizzly, the black bear 
we just saw this morning and then that like. Amazing. Like the timing of leaving today 
was. Yeah. Cuz now that look. We’re glad to see that they got tired of us being there 
and they started to move into the forest, off of the road. We didn’t want them to be that 
close to the road. So we kind of hung around   with our flashers and uh, man. That was so, so 
cool. Love you British Columbia! Minus the rain. First order of business, Canadian Tire. And 
can you believe this is our first time in a Canadian Tire? I’m excited to see what it’s all 
about. Out, don’t go in the out hole Brian. Out. I’m going to be in trouble 
in here. They literally have everything. For our composting toilet. 
Uh-oh. Uh-oh, now we’re in trouble This is when you know you’re in Canada.
Yes! I’ve needed one of these for two nights now. They don’t stand a chance. Zap, zap, zap. I’ll try 
not to hit you in the face with it. Thanks. Well we went in for one thing, came 
out with five things. They’re all needs! Stocked up on groceries. Wez is ready. I think 
we’ll be good to hit the Cassiar tomorrow. So excited. And this is so our fridge,
doesn’t fly open when we go around turns. Got a little piece of velcro there. 
It’s actually been working pretty good. We are at an RV camp for the night. Um, 
we really don’t know when the next time will be when we get showers or fresh water. 
So we’re going to take advantage of it now. They are the nicest people here. And, 
they said help yourself to firewood. So you can’t beat that. And it stopped 
raining! And it stopped raining. So, why not? Let’s have a fire. Good morning! So I have to tell you guys. 
Since we saw that amazing bear family on the side of the road yesterday, I’ve been doing a lot 
of research. And because of the region that we   were in, in British Columbia. And the subspecies 
of black bear that live there. I actually think that we saw an extremely rare, spirit bear. They’re 
one of the rarest bears in the entire world and to see one is like, like I just can’t get over 
it. I was almost getting emotional this morning thinking about it. But let me know what you guys 
think, we’re no bear experts. Leave a comment. Let us know, do you think we saw the very rare and 
elusive spirit bear? Or do you think we saw just a blonde, black bear. Which is still extremely rare 
with only .05% of the black bear population being blonde. Either way, just amazing. And you know 
this video didn’t start out as we had planned. We really wanted to explore Prince Rupert. We got 
rained out of Prince Rupert. But then that led us to go see that incredible grizzly that we had 
that chance encounter with. And we got to just hang out with and watch eat for a while. And we 
couldn’t stay there because we didn’t want to   share camp with the grizzly. But then that led 
us to the amazing riverfront spot that we had. And we enjoyed for a couple of days. And then 
leaving there led us to that very rare chance encounter with that bear family on the side of 
the road. So I think it just goes to show that even though things might not always start out as 
the way you plan, they always happen for a reason. And I got to say, I know we’ve got a long way to 
go but this so far has been, the past couple of days such a freaking highlight for me. Yeah this 
has been absolutely incredible. Um, and then we ended up at this really nice RV park. We had some 
nice warm showers. Yeah the showers here, thumbs up. They were great. Yeah and then unlimited firewood. 
So we were able to relax by the fire last night which is also nice. The weather let up. Um, we’re 
topped off on water. We’re topped off on power. We do need to head to the gas station to make sure 
we fuel up there. Fuel up um, get Def topped off. Um, any last minute supplies we might need. 
Because we’re going through a very remote   section of British Columbia. And uh, gas stations 
are just few and far between. So. We hope you liked this video! If you did, like! Subscribe! And we’ll see 
you on the next adventure out there! Bye!

We Saw a SPIRIT BEAR – Van Life in the Rainiest City in North America

Our van life adventure took an unforgettable turn this week as we journeyed to the rainiest city in North America, Prince Rupert, Canada. We expected misty mornings and lush rainforests—but nothing could’ve prepared us for what happened next.

What started as a search for a quiet campsite turned into a heart-racing moment when we stumbled across a grizzly bear. Needless to say, we kept moving and found a peaceful spot on the banks of a beautiful, remote river, where we called home for a few days—just us, the van, and the sounds of the wild.

But the true magic happened when we witnessed something we never imagined in our wildest dreams: a Spirit Bear. Rare, elusive, and sacred to Indigenous cultures, this white bear is a symbol of peace, strength, and balance. We are still processing how lucky we are to have seen one in the wild.

This video captures the awe, emotion, and raw beauty of life on the road in British Columbia. Don’t miss this one.

🚐 To support our journey and view early release videos, coordinates to our favorite camp locations, and recipes, check out our Patreon community here: https://patreon.com/AdventureOutThere989

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Camp Cooking:
Tembotusk Skottle Grill: https://amzn.to/4jZ5GHl
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Lodge 8 Quart Dutch Oven: https://amzn.to/3Z2rCZV
Lodge Adjustable Dutch Oven Tripod: https://amzn.to/3S1yTFj

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Adventure Pup Gear:
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VIDEO CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction
01:33 Exploring Prince Rupert, BC
02:49 Finding a BIG Grizzly at Our Campsite
05:22 Camping on a Beautiful River in BC
07:31 Kraft Dinner!
08:29 Morning River Drone Shots
09:14 How to Make Coffee in an Aeropress
12:22 Van Chores and So Much Sand!
14:18 Peaceful Afternoon at Camp and Dutch Oven Dinner
20:43 Movie and Snack Night in the Van
22:44 Beautiful Morning at Camp and Moving On
25:28 We Saw a SPIRIT BEAR CUB and Its Family
28:35 Town Chores and Finding Camp for the Night
31:10 Reflections and Next Plans

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🕶️ VIDEOS TO WATCH NEXT:

We quit the 9-5 to start van life in our forties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSk8rAFfBQA&list=PL9zr8Ddl8bnyq2Am-3gIpZTEXKcdSo5wO&index=18

Full tour of our cozy custom 4×4 Mercedes Sprinter Van: https://youtu.be/UsU6EpIhMdo?si=wH8iLYd37PgeGDWw

ABOUT US:

We’re Brian, Emily, and our adventure-loving dog, Wez. We traded in our 9-5 careers in our forties for the open road, living and exploring in our fully converted 4×4 Sprinter van. From breathtaking landscapes to hidden gems, we’re on a mission to discover the world’s beauty and share it with you.

Subscribe to follow our travels, watch us learn as we go, and see some of the things we experience. We’re just getting started, but will also share any van life tips and tricks that we pick up along the way. Thank you for being part of our journey!

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