Larch Trail (No. 28)

This hike is a special experience in autumn. The larch needles change their color from green to yellow to rust-red. Here you understand why golden autumn hikes are often mentioned. In winter the trees are bare.

For centuries, the population hunted the Nutcracker bird. The rumor was that the Nutcracker was a serious forest pest. Its excessive consumption of seeds supposedly prevented the regrowth of the young forest.

Only in the 1950s was the secret of the Nutcracker revealed. It benefits the tree offspring much more than it harms them. Because the relatively heavy seeds are not spread by the wind like other conifers, but by the Nutcracker. A Nutcracker collects between 30,000 and 100,000 seeds per year and buries them in hiding places. In winter, it has to dig up to 1 meter deep in the snow to reach its stock. But some seeds are forgotten...

• Larches are a popular building material in Valais
• Larches are pest-resistant (due to high resin content)
• Larches lose their needles in late autumn
• Information boards in German, English, French, Japanese