Early Autumn
Autumn is a wonderful time in Interior Alaska. No mosquitoes, beautiful colors and lovely weather. If it weren’t so brief and wasn’t the herald of our long, dark winter, it would be perfect. This year, the weather patterns have induced the Highbush Cranberries (Vibrunum edule) to unusually vivid reds.
Highbush Cranberry Understory
The forest on this hillside is second growth Alaska Paper Birch, with an understory of mixed Highbush Cranberry and Alaska Prickly Rose. The effect with the yellow-tinged birch leaves, stark-white tree trunks and blue sky is very nice.
Where the Highbush Cranberries don’t dominate the understory, the colors are much less vibrant. This uphill view shows how patchy the Highbush Cranberries are.
Birch Trees and Mixed Understory
The berries themselves are a brilliant red. It’s a seed spreading strategy. The brightly colored fruit attracts birds. including Rusty and Red-winged Blackbirds in the fall, and Ruffed Grouse and Bohemian Waxwings all fall and winter. The seeds inside the fruit can withstand a trip through a bird’s gut, so the birds, in return for the fruit, serve as a seed dispersal mechanism.
Highbush Cranberry Closeup
You can’t write about Highbush Cranberries without mentioning their distinctive autumn smell. It’s hard to describe, and it’s not the same to everyone. Some folks smell a musty, pleasant scent. Others think it smells like rancid garbage. In a longer, milder autumn, the smell can be a bit overpowering.
But for the WC it smells like early autumn. And it’s here.
I’ve spent time all over the world at different times of the year. Some are incredible and some are not-so-great. Torrential rain in Zimbabwe, summer in Scotland, night-time in Hawaii and a sunny day SE Alaska are all awe inspiring. Dar es Salaam and Tucson, anytime, are wretched. But autumn in Fairbanks is my favorite time and place. Damp undergrowth, birch and aspen leaves getting dry and rustling in the trees and steam-like fog over ponds and creeks in the morning. But the thing I love the most is the sun. I can feel beams peaking through holes between leaves and tree trunks. It’s cool enough that small spots of warmth on my skin are going away for a while.
Funny enough I couldn’t describe the odor of high bush cranberries until I was about 10 years old. It was the first time I was out in America and I smelled a skunk that didn’t make it across a road. Really, that’s what it smells like (to me).
Dan Garrett
September 3, 2012 at 1:47 pm
My favorite Fairbanks season. Hard to beat New England when the leaves turn, but the ‘Banks gives it a shot.
sleddogstudio
September 4, 2012 at 10:49 am