Random photos of autumn colors.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
Psalm 96: 11-12
We have hiked many trails on the north shore over the past forty years…some trails we hike every time we are up there, but we are still discovering new trails to hike and explore.
This year it was Illgen Falls, a part of Tettegouche State Park.
The trail to Illgen Falls is one of the shortest walks to a North Shore waterfall, and it leads to a beautiful 40’ drop of tumbling water in the Baptism River.
After the delight of seeing scenic Illgen waterfall, we hiked to High Falls on the Baptism River. It’s a longer hike, with a steep set of stairs (and currently the bottom of the stairs are washed out). High Falls is a 63’ falls. It’s very majestic, yet dangerous. A man tried jumping from High Falls in August 2025 and died.
We hiked up Oberg Mountain which is a trail we walk up annually.
Although it was past fall-color peak (the red and orange leaves were mostly blown off the trees already), the yellows and greens were lovely.
There are no waterfalls on this hike, but there is a beautiful view of Oberg Lake from one of numerous panoramic overlooks, and also a few of Lake Superior and the inland forest on this loop trial.
We saw waterfalls at both Temperance River and Cascade River State Parks,
all intermixed with spending time sitting on shores of the Lake Superior;
either reading, eating our picnic lunches,
beach combing or just contemplating…it’s always refreshing, rejuvenating and relaxing.
A stop at Grand Marais is always a treat. This year we discovered Superior Creamery. A small business that daily makes their own ice cream. It was delicious. The best vanilla I’ve tasted!
This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
A couple hours later we trekked up Oberg Mountain and saw more beautiful colors of a different kind. Once again, I was grateful to be able to hike this trail, and was thankful to have the opportunity to do so.
And back at the cabin…the lovely, wispy clouds.
The sky was constantly changing, but the waves continue to roll in, year after year, reminding me of God’s faithfulness.
Amen.
We’re back on our son’s front porch in North Carolina. The temperatures are mild, and it’s wonderful drinking our morning coffee out here. Yesterday, a long, gentle rain fell, but we could still sit on the porch and watch the rain fall, and it was lovely.
The woods next door offers a beautiful view of fall colors. We get to experience an extended fall season.
This morning’s show included an occasional leaf gently floating down and many active birds…the ones I could identify were finches, eastern blue birds and a woodpecker. The cardinal is the state bird of North Carolina, and I’ve seen many already, just not this morning.
All is well.
These photos were taken a couple weeks ago, while riding on the Sakatah Singing Hills State trail. It was a cool, fall evening, and surprisingly we had the trail to ourselves.
The trail was canopied with trees that had not dropped all of their colorful leaves, and yet… the asphalt was covered with crispy, autumn leaves, and it was beautiful.
Gary and I rode along this portion of the enchanting path, with the sound of “crunch” underneath us. It was a fun ride!
Fall color tour... Fluorescent orange, yellow, reds, A beautiful gift!
I did not enhance these photos, before or after taking theses pictures.
The leaves were that brilliant.
Our trip to the north shore proved to be a lot more colorful than we were expecting.
We had already started seeing pockets of beautiful fall colors on our drive up, so I started to get a little excited…and then the colors began to pop out everywhere…with wonderful contrasts to the evergreen trees.
The weather also turned out better than I had hoped for, with warmer temperatures and some nice sunshine and blue skies (and one cloudy day). We had packed clothes for colder weather.
We followed our annual routine of balancing cabin time and lake time with hiking and local drives.
We watched the sun rise over the big lake and had a camp fire on the rocks. We stopped in Hinckley and Duluth on the way up, and stopped in Grand Marais one day. It’s all so familiar, yet all so refreshing, relaxing, and restorative… and so much fun!
The colors were breathtaking…everywhere we went. It was spectacular to see and hard to photograph with my iPhone.
But it was enough to witness the colors and breath in the fresh air, smell the different whiffs of pine scents, lake water, decomposing leaves, feel the crisp air and to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8a).
I stand in awe of the Creator of these incredible autumn colors.
And the colors were not only up north…we saw them driving home, and right here in Northfield, and outside our front and back doors!
We often go up to the cabin we rent on Lake Superior in the fall. One never knows what kind of color autumn will have painted on the trees and foliage when we arrive.
The leaves usually change up there in late September/early October. The last couple of years we have seen some good color up on the north shore, even though our dates staying up at the cabin have varied – a lot.
This year, the day we went for our annual hike up Oberg Mountain, was one of those perfect fall days…bright sunshine, a vibrant, bold, blue, autumn sky, great temperature…it was stunning.
And the vistas from the seven lookouts on top were very colorful.
A lot of people were on the trail, and a lot of people were up north in general…more so than usual… evident with traffic and full parking lots. However, back at the cabin all was peaceful.
On another hike, in Tettegouche State Park, we spotted an unusual mushroom. It was golden…it looked like it was spray painted but it was far enough off the trail to know that was unlikely.
I tried to identify this mushroom with a quick internet search, but was unsuccessful. We saw other fun fungi on that same trail.
As wonderful as our hiking and biking and fall color drives were, the time spent with our son and daughter-in-love, and our two grandchildren, up north, at the cabin on Lake Superior, was the best!
The 2020 autumnal equinox was Tuesday, marking the beginning of our fall season in Minnesota. We’ve had some enjoyable weather this week.
I’m looking forward to many more pleasant weather days and hope they linger well into this fall season, to energize us for winter.
Fall is my favorite time of year!
We were blessed to have an opportunity to travel to the north shore a second time this fall, within two weeks of our first trip up to Lake Superior.
The first week up on the north shore we had a great time with family and saw abundant fall colors. Our second trip to the north shore we enjoyed showing off one of our favorite places to our visiting friends from New Hampshire.
The forecast was dismal…rain was predicted for every day we were to be up north. And, on our first day – the drive up – it was misty rain all day.
But, even so, we stopped at the New Scenic Café for a delicious lunch, and then toured the impressive, historic, and iconic Split Rock Lighthouse, which opened in 1910 and was deactivated in 1969.
Looking out over the railing we could not see the big lake. It was fogged in and clouded over, but inside we climbed up the spiral staircase to the top to see the special lens. Click here to read more on this fascinating lens.
We also toured one of the lightkeeper houses. An antique oven was lit while bread dough was rising so it was very cozy in the house as we warmed up in the kitchen on a cold blistery day.
Even in the rain we stopped a few more places along the way to Tofte, where our friends had rented a condo.
Much to our surprise we saw the sun rise over Lake Superior the next two mornings. What a treat – what a delight! We were grateful!
For two days it did not rain, and was partly sunny…to mostly sunny.
We took a another look on Oberg Mountain by hiking the trail for a second time in two weeks. The colors were fuller and even more vibrant than on our first hike two weeks prior.
We meandered a long time at the top of Oberg, to enjoy God’s spectacular creation and amazing colors.
We showed our friends a taste of the wonderful north shore: Temperance River, Grand Marais, Naniboujou Lodge, and we spent time on the rocks, had a bonfire, and drove one of the fall color tours on the back roads.
It brought us much joy to show off the beauty of Lake Superior. Time went by too quickly.
Early in the morning, on the last day, our friends headed north – they were driving back home through Canada. We headed south – back to Northfield, once again basking in the glory of the north shore and grateful for a second look at it this year
