Larch Quest

Jason and I put a "Save the Date" on the calendar over the summer for the first weekend in October to go on a hike to go try to find the magical larch trees found in the Cascades, and yesterday turned out to be a perfect day with such gorgeous fall weather to go on our quest. 

Western larches and alpine larches look like pine trees, but they are not evergreens. They are deciduous conifers. Every autumn before the needles fall, they first turn a bright yellow and then a burnt orange color.  And in the sub-alpine landscapes, the colors are spectacular. 

Jason did some research to track down a lesser known hike (as we heard the most popular one to Lake Ingalls took some folks 3 hours just to get out of the parking lot!), and we went to Bean Creek Basin and then to Bean Peak. The trail to Bean Creek Basin was beautiful though we did not see any larches there. But as we got to Bean Peak and looked over at the view of the backside of the Enchantments, we could see the larches showing off their fall glory. From the top, we could also see Mount Rainier and Mount Adams so the payoff was pretty amazing for our day hike. So grateful that we found the gold on such a magical day! 

at the trailhead (I always take these photos as a timestamp so we can look back to when we started the hike) 

first larch sighting 

looking over at Dragon's Tail in the Enchantments 

Mount Rainier behind us 

a very Dr. Seuss-ish looking larch tree 

Yes, Jason and I did take turns carrying this awesome heart rock home in our backpack. 

cool rock at the top of Bean Peak 

soaking up the sunshine