Update Sep 24: “For the second year in a row, RCMP and Parks Canada officials were forced to temporarily close the road to a popular Banff National Park hiking area because of traffic and parking chaos caused by crowds admiring alpine larches…” Read more in the Herald Larch admirers cause traffic jams
Three days ago, I posted about the golden-yellow larch trees which we saw at Arethusa Cirque in the Highwood Pass. If you’re looking for larch trees, this comment from Alf Skrastins will help you locate them, away from the overcrowded places in Lake Louise:
K-Country
Aspen trees are also in their golden fall colours
Other wonderful larch destinations in Kananaskis Country include: Mt. Allan-Marmot Creek Basin, Fortress ski area and Fortress Lake, Tent Ridge, Tryst Lake, Commonwealth Creek/Smuts Pass, Burstall Pass, Piggy Plus valley, Rummel Lake, Chester Lake, Mt. Indefatigable, Lake Rae, Tombstone Pass and Tombstone Lakes, Pocaterra Basin & Pocaterra Ridge, Running Rain Lake, Odlum Ridge, Mist Ridge, Picklejar Pass, Loomis Lake, Bishop Pass and Pasque Ridge.
Banff
In Banff Park, there are excellent larch forests at Wenkchemna Pass, Consolation Valley, Panorama Ridge, Taylor Lake, Rockbound Lake, Gibbons Pass, Healy Pass, Egypt Lake, Boulder Pass, the Skoki area and of course the Lake O’Hara area in Yoho Park too.
If you hiked every single day during the larch season, you wouldn’t be able to get to all of the larch destinations, without ever setting foot in Larch Valley.
Golden Aspen trees along the Wedge connector in K-Country
For those who can’t, or don’t want to do a strenuous hike with elevation, you can go for a beautiful walk on an easy trail in Kananaskis Country. These photos are from the Wedge Connector. Access is from Wedge pond, which is just a little bit south of the Mt. Kidd RV Park. Hopefully, this will give the Aspen trees some of the respect they deserve this autumn. (Click on the photo for a larger image)
Aspen trees are just as beautiful as the larch and you don’t have to climb a mountain to see them
Thanks for the tips!
On Saturday we visited Larch Valley along with a couple hundred other hikers and it was chaos. The vehicles parked along the road had the lanes pinched down to a single lane. We parked a kilometer up the road from the parking lot. Although it was reassuring to know we weren’t alone on the trail, it was also difficult to relax. Once over Sentinel Pass and into Paradise Valley we were able to enjoy the colours and the quietness of a less used trail. I thought the views and colours were a bit nicer in Paradise Valley. We hiked out Paradise Valley then hitched a ride back to our car. I’d never been to Larch Valley and it was nice, but next time I’ll go mid week.