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Knight Inlet Lodge

Packing list · Knight Inlet Lodge

What to pack for Knight Inlet Lodge

What to bring for a bear-viewing stay at Knight Inlet Lodge. The lodge hands you rain gear, boots and binoculars on arrival, so the list is less about kit than about three rules: everything scent-free, everything under the floatplane weight, and the camera you want in your hands travelling in the bag. Tick things off as they go in; the ticks are saved on this device.

An autumn stay at Knight Inlet Lodge, checked against the lodge's own guidance. Temperatures, weights and what the lodge provides are the lodge's figures.

Some gear links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one, I earn a small referral fee at no cost to you.

Get this list as a PDF

Layers

The lodge asks you to dress in layers because mornings and late evenings are cool whatever the month. Its own ranges: 6 to 18°C in spring, 15 to 30°C in summer, 5 to 15°C in autumn, in a rainforest that gets about 6,650 mm of rain a year.

Packing items laid out on grey gravel: a steel water bottle, a black cap, a tube of mineral sunscreen, a headlamp, a battery pack, a can of insect repellent and a paperback

Feet, and what the lodge already has

Knight Inlet supplies high-quality rain jackets, rain trousers and wellington boots, plus binoculars and life jackets. Bring your own only if you would rather; bring walking shoes regardless.

Camera and glass

This is the group that decides your trip. Three lodge rules to plan around: tripods are not allowed in the skiffs or on the viewing stands; drones are prohibited during the season under the environmental management plan; and there is no carry-on of any kind on the floatplane, so the camera travels in your duffel and only what fits the seat pocket travels on you.

A grizzly bear at close range in the river, water on its fur and its muzzle red from a salmon, looking straight at the camera
Knight Inlet Lodge

Scent-free, all of it

The lodge puts a number on it: a grizzly's sense of smell is 2,600 times more sensitive than yours. The bathrooms are stocked with eco-friendly, scent-free shower gel and shampoo. Anything you bring instead has to be scent-free too.

Grizzly bear sitting upright in tall estuary grass, scanning its surroundings in low afternoon light
Knight Inlet Lodge

Personal

Once the floatplane leaves there is no shop, no signal and no way to send for anything.

Knight Inlet Lodge's aluminium tour boat cutting through the water, a red and black First Nations formline bear painted on its bow
Knight Inlet Lodge

The floatplane

Transport Canada rules for aircraft of this size mean no carry-on luggage at all. The lodge's limit is 14 to 15 kg, about 30 lb, per traveller, in a soft case no more than 110 linear centimetres in any one direction. Anything on your person must fit the seat pocket.

View through a floatplane window over forested islands and channels on the flight in to the lodge
Knight Inlet Lodge

Kit budget

What this list costs, bought new

The kit for this trip, bought new, is about CA$15,364 (US$11,214), across the 20 of 24 items above that name a product. Tick the items you already have and the figure below becomes what is left to buy.

Still to buy CA$15,364 US$11,214 · 20 of 20 items Approx., at 1.37 CAD per USD. Street prices, not quotes; a sale or a used one changes the sum.

Some gear links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one, I earn a small referral fee at no cost to you.

The same figures as a page of their own, with what the operator provides and the three things worth buying: what it costs to kit yourself for a bear-viewing trip.

Checked against: Knight Inlet Lodge, prepare for your visit . Operator limits, especially helicopter baggage weights, are theirs and change; confirm with your booking.

Where this list came from

The weeks behind it