The rainbow bear, October 2026 · Photo: Sean Phillips
Village walk · all ages
The SilverStar Bear Byway
Bear sculptures, a bear den and friendly signs about black bears, on a short walk around Brewer’s Pond.
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Tucked along the path around Brewer’s Pond, the SilverStar Bear Byway is a short, easy walk with bear sculptures and colourful signs about how black bears live. Kids treat it like a scavenger hunt. Grown-ups usually end up reading every sign. In fall it glows with gold and red shrubs; in winter the bears wear tall white hats of snow.
“One idea to help you understand bears”
The welcome sign sets the tone. It says the byway was an idea among a group of people who care deeply about bears, and it hopes every visitor takes away one idea to help them understand bears a little better, and then shares that understanding.
Above the words is a painting of a still mountain lake framed by lupines and paintbrush. Beside them are words from the conservationist Aldo Leopold: “Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.”
The sign carries the Silver Star Bear Stewardship logo, along with logos for SilverStar Mountain Resort, Destination Silver Star, the Regional District of North Okanagan, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Cabin Operations, BC Games Greater Vernon, the Silver Star Property Owners Association and Wilde Signs.
Walk it with Sean, stop by stop
This is the order Sean walked it in October, starting at the welcome sign. You can just as easily go the other way round the pond. Tap any photo to see it large.
Stop 1
The rainbow bear
The first bear most people spot: a bear built from faceted panels in every colour of the rainbow, standing on a white frame in the shrubs. Walk around it; one side glows red and orange, the other blue and purple.
Stop 2
Black bear subspecies
An orange sign listing the five black bear subspecies that live in B.C., with photos showing just how many colours a “black” bear can be.
Stop 3
The tree-hugging bear
Look up. A black bear clings to a tree trunk, and up close you can see it’s made from knobby mountain-bike tires. It’s a fun one for kids to find, especially in winter when it’s wearing a snowdrift.
Stop 4
Play Forever Bear
This sign asks us to look at things in new ways: to reuse, repurpose and conserve materials so there’s more habitat left for wildlife.
Artist plaque on this post: “This bear was created by Zuzana Riha, Revelstoke, British Columbia.”
Stop 5
Hyperphagia
Before winter, bears go into an eating spree called hyperphagia. The sign says they can eat up to four times their usual amount, up to 20,000 calories a day, or about 70 hamburgers.
Artist plaque on this post: “This bear was created by Axel Barta, Vernon, British Columbia.”
Stop 6
The wireframe bear
An open, see-through bear made of rusty steel bars, standing on a cairn of rocks among the birches.
Stop 7
The bear den
A low log-and-stone den with a sod roof and two rows of stump seats out front. Kids love to peek inside and imagine where a bear would curl up for the winter.
Stop 8
A bear’s diet
Berries, skunk cabbage, wasp nests, ants and tree bark: black bears are omnivores, and the sign shows how their menu changes through the seasons. Brewer’s Pond and the village are right behind it.
Artist plaque on this post: “This bear was created by Zuzana Riha, Revelstoke, British Columbia.”
Stop 9
The scrap-metal bear
A big standing bear with one arm raised, pieced together from gears, tools and old machine parts. In fall it glints in the sun; in winter it almost disappears under the snow.
Stop 10
The Rub Tree
Bears “talk” through trees. They stand up and rub their backs, leave claw marks and chew the bark so other bears know who’s been by.
Artist plaque on this post: “This bear was created by Tyler Welfing, Vernon, British Columbia.”
Stop 11
The carved black bear
A classic chainsaw-carved black bear standing tall on its log base. Come back in winter and it’s wearing a snow hat as tall as its head.
Stop 12
The bear bench
Take a seat between a carved bear and its cub. It’s the best photo stop on the walk.
How to get there
The Bear Byway is in SilverStar village, on the Pond Loop path around Brewer’s Pond. On the village trail map signs it’s number 42, right beside number 41, the Gnome Roam.
Start at the Brewer’s Pond Base building, the blue and grey building with the skate rentals. A village map sign beside it shows the Pond Loop, with markers 41 and 42 along the loop just below the pond.
New to the mountain? See getting to SilverStar and village life.
The Bear Byway in winter and fall
Photos: Sean Phillips. Tap any photo to see it large and swipe through.
Make a morning of it
The byway is an easy add-on to a village day: grab a treat in the village, try the trails, see what’s on this season, or join a free Mountain Host tour in ski season. In winter, Brewer’s Pond becomes a natural skating rink, so bring your skates.
Quick answers
Where is the Bear Byway at SilverStar?
In the village, along the Pond Loop around Brewer’s Pond. It is number 42 on the village trail map signs, right beside number 41, the Gnome Roam. A map sign stands next to the Brewer’s Pond Base building, where the skate rentals are.
Which artists are named on the Bear Byway?
Sign posts along the byway carry metal plaques reading “This bear was created by”, each under a small wooden bear cut-out. They name Zuzana Riha of Revelstoke, Tyler Welfing of Vernon and Axel Barta of Vernon. The plaques don’t say which sculpture each artist made.
Can you walk the Bear Byway in winter?
Sean walked it on December 22, 2024, with the bears wearing thick caps of snow, and again in fall colours on October 3, 2026. Check current trail conditions with the resort before you go.
Who is behind the Bear Byway?
The welcome sign says the byway was an idea among a group of people who care deeply about bears. It carries the Silver Star Bear Stewardship logo, along with logos for SilverStar Mountain Resort, Destination Silver Star, the Regional District of North Okanagan, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Cabin Operations, BC Games Greater Vernon, the Silver Star Property Owners Association and Wilde Signs.
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