With a recommendation from Marita, my guy and I hiked a trail new to us today and fell in love with it. But as much as we enjoyed the lay of the land and physical activity of climbing uphill and down, we also enjoyed searching for shades of orange on this last day of October.

Beside Sanborn River we traversed at first, frequently pausing to admire the flow of the water over the rock formations and noting hints of orange in the display before us.

And then we began to see it everywhere, beginning with the big-tooth aspen leaves,

sugar maples,

and northern red oaks–down low . . .

and up high.

We found an orangey display in red oak bark and . . .

even among an old burl on a birch tree.

Not all was formed by nature, though then again, nature played a part.

And sometimes it was easy to spot.

As was my guy.

Shades of orange accented Oversett Mountain as we paused beside the pond of the same name.

We noted its beauty on the huckleberry leaves beside the pond, and . . .

in reflective patterns on the water.

It wasn’t just the orange that drew my attention as we circled halfway around, however. The cliff was a wee bit intimidating.

Despite that, we continued on and crossed an old beaver dam. The dam may be old, but we noted new beaver works gnawed by those famous orange rodent teeth on the man-made bridge beside it.

And then we began the climb, which wasn’t so bad after all, given a few switchbacks. At lunch rock, our view was dominated by orange as we munched on PB&J sandwiches.

Shortly after that, we reached the summit, aflame with more of that autumn glow that hints at November.

And immediately below, another view of part of Oversett Pond. As the universe would have it, the pond appeared heart shaped. Just perfect for a Mondate with my guy and a day of giving thanks for our young next door neighbor, Kyan, who has been dealing with leukemia and is recovering from a blood marrow transplant–talk about intimidating. He’s going trick-or-treating tonight! Orange you glad for Ky? We certainly are.

Happy Halloween!