The Best Fall Hikes in Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is a great place to visit anytime of the year, but during the fall is an especially wonderful time. Hikers will have many options for viewing the beautiful fall colors, especially those of aspens and western larch.

Roughly 55% of Glacier National Park is covered by forest. Of that percentage, roughly 90% is coniferous forest. The remaining 10% is considered to be deciduous forest, and is primarily made up of aspen, western larch and black cottonwood.

Some of the best places to see aspens, in all their shimmering golden yellow and orange glory, are on the eastern side of the Continental Divide. Towards the end of September is usually the best time to see aspens at their peak, and some of the best trails to find them include Redrock Falls and Apikuni Falls in the Many Glacier area, Oldman Lake / Pitamakan Pass and Firebrand Pass in the Two Medicine area, the Beaver Pond Loop near the St. Mary entrance, as well as the Forest and Fire Nature Trail near the Camas Creek Entrance (just north of Apgar). Bowman Lake near the northwestern corner of the park is another great choice.


Western larch:

The western and southern portions of Glacier are some of the best places to see larch as they turn bright yellow during the mid-to-late October timeframe. Although western larch, also known as tamaracks, appears to be an evergreen, they’re actually needle-bearing deciduous trees. After turning golden yellow in the fall, the trees lose their needles, and appear to be dead during the winter months.

If you wish to hike among the larch during the fall, visit any of the trails from the Sperry Chalet trailhead near the Lake McDonald Lodge. Rocky Point on the western end of Lake McDonald is another great choice. Any of the trails on southern end of the park, such as Loneman Lookout, Scalplock Mountain Lookout or the South Boundary Trail, are all excellent options for viewing tamaracks at peak color.

The park strongly urges autumn hikers to make sure they are familiar with safety precautions while traveling in bear country, and to be prepared for variable temperatures and rapidly changing weather conditions.



Jeff
Glacier National Park Hiking

The Best Fall Hikes in Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is a wonderful place to visit during the autumn. Hikers will have many options for viewing the beautiful colors of fall, especially those of aspens and western larch.

Roughly 55% of Glacier National Park is covered by forest. Of that percentage, roughly 90% is coniferous forest. The remaining 10% is considered to be deciduous forest, and is primarily made up of aspen, western larch and black cottonwood.

Some of the best places to see aspens, in all their shimmering golden yellow and orange glory, are on the eastern side of the Continental Divide. Towards the end of September is usually the best time to see aspens at their peak, and some of the best trails to find them include Redrock Falls andApikuni Falls in the Many Glacier area, Oldman Lake / Pitamakan Pass and Firebrand Pass in the Two Medicine area, the Beaver Pond Loop near the St. Mary entrance, as well as the Forest and Fire Nature Trail near the Camas Creek Entrance (just north of Apgar).


Western larch:

The western and southern portions of Glacier are some of the best places to see larch as they turn bright yellow during the mid-to-late October timeframe. Although western larch, also known as tamaracks, appears to be an evergreen, they’re actually needle-bearing deciduous trees. After turning golden yellow in the fall, the trees lose their needles, and appear to be dead during the winter months.

If you wish to hike among the larch during the fall, visit any of the trails from the Sperry Chalet trailhead near the Lake McDonald Lodge. Rocky Point on the western end of Lake McDonald is another great choice. Any of the trails on southern end of the park, such as Loneman Lookout, Scalplock Mountain Lookout or the South Boundary Trail, are all excellent options for viewing tamaracks at peak color.

The park strongly urges autumn hikers to make sure they are familiar with safety precautions while traveling in bear country, and to be prepared for variable temperatures and rapidly changing weather conditions.


Jeff
Glacier National Park Hiking

Public Comment Sought for Western Larch Cone Collection Project in Flathead National Forest

The Flathead National Forest is proposing to collect western larch (Larix occidentalis) cones in order to acquire seeds that are vital to meeting the anticipated reforestation needs on the Flathead National Forest. Because of the inherent safety concerns of climbing larch trees (larch trees have brittle stems/ branches and hard bark that easily flakes off in large slabs) collection trees would be felled for safe cone collection.

Shooting cone-bearing branches off trees to collect the cones is another method used for cone collection. This method is time consuming and is not deemed to be an efficient way of collecting larch cones within the short harvest period (2-3 weeks). In addition, larch cones are very small (size of a walnut to a large grape) and significant loss would occur when the cone-bearing branch falls to the ground.

After cones are collected, the felled trees would remain on site. About 270 trees would need to be felled over a 10-year span to meet current anticipated needs. Seed requirements may be met with fewer trees depending on crop abundance. For example, if trees are producing 1/3 bushel of cones, 270 trees would need to be felled but if trees are producing 1 bushel of cones, 90 trees would need to be felled.

To maximize cone production and minimize the amount of tree mortality, larger diameter trees are preferred. Trees selected for cone collection would generally be between 22 and 28 inches diameter at breast height (DBH). Trees chosen for seed collection would be dominate and co-dominate trees that display vigorous growth with healthy crowns and are relatively insect and disease free. Trees selected for cone collection would not be older than 200 years. As larch trees age, their seed viability declines.

An individual seed lot collection in western larch should have a minimum of 20 trees separated by 200 feet in distance. This means approximately 1 tree per acre within a given area could be selected. It is anticipated that each cone-bearing tree will produce between one-third of a bushel and one and one-half bushels of western larch cones. The location of seed collection areas is not determined until a cone survey is done in the summer to determine if there is a sufficient cone crop. Seed trees chosen would be within one mile from a road. Seed collection typically occurs for a period of two to three weeks beginning in early September.

Where possible, cone collection will be focused in existing timber sale areas. However, cone collection could occur in other areas on the Flathead National Forest where adequate crops are identified. Melissa Jenkins, Forest Silviculturist for the Flathead Forest said “the amount of seed currently on hand is well below levels necessary to meet our planting needs. Because western larch cone crops do not occur on a regular basis in western Montana, we need to capture larch seed when a sufficient cone crop does occur. It is likely that cone harvest wouldn’t occur in some years due to the sporadic seed cycles of larch.”

Your comments and concerns regarding this project are important to us. Please address any comments or questions by April 16, 2012 to the project team leader, Marsha Moore, at 758-5325, memoore@fs.fed.us, or to Flathead National Forest, 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901.



Jeff
Hiking in Glacier.com