Larch season
Plus, new homes for Roxy the rock snake and the Visitor's Information Centre. And a really good reader comment
I’m not sure what it is, but it seems like the larches are more prominent this year? Maybe they are getting bigger or maybe it’s something to do with the unusually warm weather but they just seem to be standing out more (I googled as I wrote this: Turns out it is the weather).
In the Rockies portion of Alberta, larch season is a full-on tourism attraction:
For the uninitiated, larch season happens when the needles on larch trees in the Rockies turn from green to golden. It makes for a striking scene on many mountain trails, albeit a brief one. This colourful transformation typically happens from about mid-September to early October, though experts are saying heat-stressed larches are turning golden earlier than usual.
We’ve previously dubbed this season of golden larch-y goodness “the most magical time to hike in Alberta,” and it’s a distinction we stand by. Many others seem to agree as larch hunting is becoming increasingly popular. To that end, we’ve compiled some advice if you’re heading out in search of larches this year.
It’s a good little guide if you’re headed that way but you can do plenty of your own larch-hunting here, as outdoor enthusiast Mike Nash documented in this 2017 video:
And the Caledonia Ramblers are hosting a hike this weekend to a spot called Larch Lookout which I have to assume gives you some pretty good views of them. I became aware of this fact in this overview of groups you can join if you’re interested in exploring hikes in the area and are looking for folks to do it with.
Roxy is moving to Goodsir Nature Park
I wrote previously about Roxy the rock snake, a chain of painted rocks down at Cottonwood Island Park started as a project between a mom and her sick son. Sadly, the son has passed but fortunately a permanent home has been found for Roxy — this weekend volunteers were out at Cottonwood collecting the rocks to bring them out to Goodsir Nature Park, a volunteer-run private park.
This is good news because it wouldn’t really be feasible to keep this project going down at Cottonwood — the rocks would have been moved and washed away by snow, equipment and the annual flooding that happens there.
The case for putting the visitor information centre downtown
Over at North of Somewhere,
makes the case for moving the visitor centre downtown:Downtown Prince George feels like it’s on a tipping point right now. We’ve felt the catastrophic loss of The Makerie, there’s certainly a lot more “For Lease” signs than I’d like to see, and just anecdotally, I know other business owners are looking around at each other to see who is looking at the door to run. If the right sequence of events happens, there will be a cascade effect and it will be really painful for downtown.
On the flip side, one of Prince George’s most public beacons planting its flag in the ground of downtown and saying out loud, “this is the spot where visitors should come” would be a warm flame in an otherwise chilling ground. With that flag will, eventually, come a nice influx of visitors walking between hotels, conference goers experiencing local restaurants, and a more educated visitor to experience PG.
It’s a strong argument, though he makes a good case for Pine Centre Mall, as well.
10/10 reader comment:
In response to my picture of cones guarding a sinkhole, 4streegrrl writes:
the cone! It's doing all the work while the other three are supervising.
Quick news:
Huble Homestead’s Halloween Spooktacular returns after four-year hiatus.
Here’s a chart showing declining home sales in Prince George compared to last year but what’s really eye-opening to me is again looking at just how insane the market was circa 2020 — and how even as things are relatively cooling, now, they are nowhere close to back where they were a decade ago — if we’d transitioned from 2012 sales to the state of things in 2023, we’d be red-hot.
A new gold mine near Wells has passed another step in the approval process.
Here’s a closer look at the new sobering centre that’s opened in Prince George.
Here’s a closer look at the new exhibit at Two Rivers Gallery.
If you’re a student at the College of New Caledonia, there’s a housing needs survey for you to take.
Northern Capital News is a free, daily newsletter about life in Prince George. Please consider subscribing or, if you have, sharing with someone else.
Send feedback by replying to this email. Find me online at akurjata.ca.
Thanks for the share, friend.