The golden tamaracks have been brilliant for the past few days. Anybody can take a picture of a red maple — they’re almost everywhere in the US in the fall. But our golden tamaracks are a tree that you don’t often get to photograph. You have to be in the right place at the right time, and that’s now around Bearskin.
The last half of October is when the most under-appreciated fall color tree of the Gunflint Trail puts on its brilliant show. Consider yourself a true connoisseur of autumn in the boreal north if you know a tamarack when you see one and if you appreciate their brilliant October showiness.
Tamaracks are a species of larch that inhabit far northern climates; this is not your run-of-the-mill Twin Cities lawn tree, this is a tree of the true north. A tamrack appears to be some version of a pine tree, until you see them in October. Tamaracks are both “coniferous” and “deciduous,” which means they have pine-like needles and cones — but unlike a pine, the tamarack needles turn brilliant colors and then fall off.
Long after the maples and birch have lost most of their leaves then the tamaracks start their show, turning brilliant shades of yellow and orange before all the needles drop. The contrast of the vivid tamaracks against the darker spruce and balsam trees is often stunning.
Driving up the Gunflint Trail, lined in so many places with bright gold tamaracks, has been a gorgeously golden drive for the past few days. The swamps are the best place to see tamaracks but they also show up now amidst clumps of balsam and black spruce, only noticeable at this time because of the distinct, almost abrupt color change between the very dark, almost blackish green of the spruce and the vivid splotches of tamarack yellow.
You can get an impressive photo of October maples almost anywhere in the United States, but if you want a fall photo that truly reflects your love of the far north, come up to the Gunflint Trail with your camera in mid-October to photograph tamarack season.
