It’s that time of year again.
I equate it to that time in March when everywhere you turn basketball fans are talking about brackets, buzzer beaters or Cinderella teams. Since we’re in Canada maybe it is more realistic to compare it to the buzz around playoff beards, provincial rivalries and sudden death overtime of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
You guessed it. It is Larch season aka Larch madness in Alberta. ‘Tis the season for generic selfies, parking chaos and crowded trails. Oh the golden glory of the humble larch tree!
I jumped on the larch fever bandwagon when I joined a group of trail friends to run Healy Pass – one of the hotspots for larch trees. This is a fun running route with little elevation. (It’s a pass after all.)
The trail begins at the Sunshine Village parking lot, about 20 minutes outside of Banff. Our plan was run the Healy and Simpson passes 20K lollipop loop. Two years ago I had run/hiked to Sunshine Village from Redearth so Healy Pass wasn’t completely new to me. I had just approached it from another direction.
The first 6K was pretty pedestrian with its long approach through the trees to the open alpine meadows. But once caught site of our first larches, everyone’s face lit up.
Our timing couldn’t have been better. The colours were popping. The contrast of green and orange larches added made the views even more dynamic. We could even see Mount Assiniboine in the distance.
What a fun day with good conversation and laughs. Benjamin was visiting from France so it was great to show him our Canadian hospitality and the world-famous larch trees in Banff National Park.