Mineral Point and Larches

There is a wonderful hike at Mineral Point that overlooks Lake Pend Oreille. The trail starts at a summit and winds through pine, cedar and fir forest before ending on the shore at Green Bay.

This time of year is when the larch show themselves. The aspen, poplar, and birch have shed most of their leaves in the fall rains leaving the larch to show their golden color before they too shed their needles.

That is correct, the larch is a deciduous conifer, something of an oxymoron with the exception of about 5 species of conifers that shed their needles (leaves) seasonably. When I first discovered this I found it remarkable. I first encountered them in North Yorkshire, in Arizona where I grew up they don’t exist. For Canadians or those in the norther latitudes of the USA or Europe this will not seem remarkable.

Here in the Idaho panhandle I am looking at the western larch (Larix occidentalis) though there are a couple of small colonies of subalpine larch (Larix lyallii) in the Idaho panhandle, but nowhere near Mineral Point.

The larch gets its name from the Romans and a village they conquered in the Alps. The villages fortifications were made of larch and when the Roman’s learned of it they named the tree after the village of Larignum.

There seem to be some debates in the world of tree biology about the adaptive strategies of deciduous versus evergreen trees. One theory holds that evergreen trees would have advantages in nutrient poor soils as they would not have to regenerate their leaves each season. The larch, however, represents a challenge as it thrives in poor soils.

The larch itself sits in the commercial timber triumvirate of larch-fir-hemlock for structural timbers. Being nearly as strong as douglas fir, larch has an added benefit of being more water resistant.

For now, however, I like to contemplate their golden glow. They sit silently in the forest and blend in with other conifers all summer. Then they suddenly make themselves known. Sometimes appearing as if the sun has pierced the gloom of a wet fall day to glance across some hillside. Closer inspection revealing clusters of larch in their fall color.

In the right light larch are almost luminous and shade subtly from pale orange to bright yellow. At your feet is a spread of fine yellow needles to tell you the larch is above you.

As for Mineral Point we were blessed with broken clouds and some spectacular light.