Amphitheatre – 2021

One thing my friend and I didn’t have a lot of on our 2021 fall trip was golden larch. There’s a two-week window in the Candian Rockies when the larch turns a shade of gold that’s almost unbelievable; it’s something you need to witness for yourself. We had a couple of hikes planned for our second day where we would see some larch, but nothing akin to what we saw last year after hiking Larch Valley. After an incredible day of photography at Abraham Lake and a spectacular sunset up near Helen Lake the day before, I felt like anything I got that day would be a bonus. I was doing some additional research in the car on the way to our first hike, Tryst Lake when I felt like we needed more larch in our life. I didn’t know anything about the hike we ended up doing beyond that friend and fellow photographer Gina said there was good larch there. We changed gears and headed for our new trailhead.

As we arrived, I knew we were in for a treat. It had rained the day before that had turned to snow as the temperature dipped overnight. A fresh blanket of heavy wet snow covered the landscape. The larch were everywhere along the roadside, but nothing could have prepared us for the beauty as we hiked further up and further in. Larch Valley is beautiful without a doubt, but this place is now on top of my larch hikes. Not only are there an abundance of golden larch trees, but there are also many different vantages from which to photograph them. Sure, this place might not have the iconic ten peaks in the background, but it has charm and photographic potential that I never experienced in Larch Valley. I’ll definitely be returning. 

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