Hiking the Oberg Mountain Trail

While much of Minnesota is quite flat, the north shore is hilly with numerous mountain ranges rich with iron ore. The view at the beginning of our blog was taken from the top of Oberg Mountain, which is covered in bright foliage this time of year. As much as I have loved the Monterey Peninsula, I always felt strangely unsettled in September and October. With the coastal fog gone, all the warm weather and mostly green trees, I missed the color and crispness of a New England autumn. I would drive around town, searching for trees that were changing, always relieved to see the big sycamores along Pacific Street finally "go off" yellow around Thanksgiving. Here on the north shore, our cabin road is lined with golden birch and scattered with yellow poplar leaves as I do my daily racewalk in "laps" back and forth from the mailbox. And scattered throughout our 2 acres, are flaming red maples, carefully planted by Chris' dad years ago. Frank, an ethnomusicologist and jazz pianist by profession, loved these woods and was an avid gardener. He and I used to compare cooking notes on the use of fresh herbs and the status of his potted basil each summer I would visit. Although his vegetable garden has long since gone to seed, I still find his green chives spread throughout the property and marvel at the maples splash of scarlet against the green pines. Thanks, Frank.