VALERIE MICHEL got an unexpected surprise for her birthday May 10 while driving on Hwy 16.
She spotted a Kermode bear eating dandelions on a patch of grass near Kitwanga and she, and about 20 other people, stopped to take a look.
At one point, the bear was standing by the right side of her bumper, so she stood by the left side of the bumper and snapped many photos of it.
It wasn't timid at all, she says. It didn't even care that her dogs were barking at people who passed by her vehicle.
That's the first time she's seen a Kermode in her eight years of living here, she says.