Reflection

Another fall colour season is behind us in the Canadian Rockies. I got some good hiking done to see the fall colours in the valleys and higher up. As always, each hike was different. On my return from one hike from a pass to the parking lot, I encountered 315 people and 41 dogs in an hour and a half. I beat my old record of 11 dogs. Birds most spotted or heard were Pine Grosbeaks, Mountain Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets and hanging out by the trail with a bit of attitude, Spruce Grouses. The surprise bird encounter was two Bald Eagles perched on the larch trees next to a small alpine lake. Unfortunately, they saw me before I saw them. They were in the air before getting any pictures. For mammals, nothing bigger than red squirrels.

For this picture, it was a hike past Boulder Pass. A nice break from the previous well loved Lake Louise area hike. Throughout the whole hike, I saw less than 30 hikers, and one baby blanket by the side of the trail. Whose owner was quickly found. It was a cold morning, which is great for hiking. I was happy to get to the lake, the wind was just starting to pick up. I still had to take 20 to 25 seconds long exposures to get a calm water look to my side of the lake. Once the pictures were out of the way, it was time to put on a few layers and sit back to enjoy the views and my first food of the day.  Another great fall hiking season is behind me.  But I have a lot of images and the larch needles I will keep coming across in my pack and outerwear to remind me of the great hikes until next year.

Golden Sunrise

Alpine larch, also called subalpine larch and lyall larch is a deciduous conifer species that grows higher on cool exposures than other trees. It grows in very cold, snowy, and windy environments. It remains small and stunted, but in wind-sheltered areas it can reach up to 29 m in height. For more than half of the season, the average temperatures are below freezing for this tree’s environment. The average precipitation for most of the alpine larch sites is between 800 and 1900 mm. Generally, the snowpack starts around these larch trees in late October and can linger with most stands until early July.

Most of the soil development in the alpine larch stands tends to be immature. Alpine larch sites have undergone alpine glaciation during the Pleistocene and have been deglaciated for less than 12,000 years. Due to a short, cool summer season as well as low soil temperatures and high acidity, the processes that can enrich the soil are limited. Alpine larch commonly grows on slopes covered with granite or quartzite talus, which were not previously surrounded by vascular plants. Vascular plant tissues are great at conducting water and minerals. Even in sites that have better developed soils, the soils are still rocky and immature.

The Alpine larch is a slow-growing, long-lived tree. In ideal sites, the dominant trees can have a 400 to 500-year life span. Many can live to 700 years of age, oldest are estimated to be about 1,000 years. In 2012, the oldest one was recorded in Kananaskis, Alberta, at 1,917 years old. A sapling that is about 1.2m tall is about 30 to 35 years of age. With alpine larch roots extending deep into the rocky ground, they are well anchored and able to deal with very heavy winds. The crown and trunk of old trees may break under heavy winds, but they are less likely to be uprooted. For many species of trees, snow avalanches and snow slides are a source of damage to them. But the alpine larch is better adapted to surviving these conditions than other tree species. An alpine tree 6 m high can handle the flattening by snow slides, then stand straight when the snow melts.

Its ability to take hold of steep northern slopes and snow chutes, where other trees have problems doing the same. It’s assumed alpine larch helps to stabilise snow loads and reduce the force of avalanches. Scientists from several countries that are interested in avalanche control are looking at alpine larch as a possible solution. Most of the wildlife makes use of alpine larch stands during the summer, when cooler timberline temperatures and succulent vegetation await them. The Alpine larch is more than just a pretty looking tree.

Fall Colours

Perhaps it’s good that the fall colours only last a few weeks. It makes this part of the season that much more special. We only have so much time to see the colours and enjoy the walk among them. With fall colours and other anticipated nature-related events that occur annually, the wait is always longer than the event itself. Each year I have several fall colours hikes planned. If I get to do half, I’m happy. For a few weeks, I like others have been paying more attention to all the plants that started changing their colours or will be.

However, in order to see the larch trees in their natural habitat, some hiking up the slopes is required. There are a few places in the valley from where you can look up and see their colour. But nothing compares to walking among them under the sun. Just a few days ago, I got to see a few larch trees with snow covering their golden yellow needles. The snow did not last a day, but the cold temperatures that came with it got more larch needles to change into their fall colours. It’s time now to go see the larches. With the warmer temperatures coming up, we may get a few more days to enjoy them before the needles start falling toward the ground.