My company continues to impress me with what they do for their employees. That has been extra clear through the COVID-19 pandemic and now George Floyd’s death and the resulting protests. It’s been a stressful time and they have found multiple ways to support all of us. On Thursday, my boss called and let me know they were giving me Friday off paid. It was a simple gesture, but greatly appreciated.

We decided to use it to get away - at least farther than we’ve been in awhile. We drove about an hour and a half to Mankato to explore Minneopa State Park. Minneopa is known for it’s waterfall, bison and more. Minneopa is a Dakota word meaning "follows the water, two waterfalls."

We started with the loop around the bison (they are fenced in) where we were able to stop at the Seppmman windmill overlook to see the bison from above and read about the mill history. The trail was fairly flat and partly shaded, but there were large patches in full sun so make sure to bring a hat and sunscreen. We were able to see the bison and their babies at the far end of the loop, from the overlook, and from our car when we drove through on the bison road.

Hike #: 30

Trail: Minneopa State Park

Location: Mankato, MN

Trail surface: dirt, grass

Date: May 29th, 2020

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Riley: ★★★★

We’ve been doing a lot of 2 - 3 miles trails so this one was nice as it ended up being just over 5 miles. Riley was a trooper and didn’t complain once. I overheat easily and might have complained more about this trail with the open sun, but it was a windy day which made it much more enjoyable.

From this trail, we hopped in the car and drove over to the water falls. This trail is less than a mile (although I understand that there were some off shoot trails that were closed off), but worth it. Things are still a bit closed down to COVID-19, but there were multiple buildings, shelters, open space, walkways, and of course the falls, to explore.