While Jesse and his buddy were hiking in 90 degree weather in South Dakota, Riley and I decided to enjoy a very windy, 60 degree hike near home. We’d previously attempted to hike around Parker’s Lake as a family, but just as we showed up the sky turned black and started pouring hours earlier than anticipated.

This time the weather was much more desirable and a far amount of people agreed with us as we saw plenty of other walkers out and about. Riley and I parked in the main lot and headed left which brought us through a neighborhood first. We used the AllTrails app to help us stay on track, but even that was confusing as we were following a trail where it appeared someone might have walked through some back yards. We found our way, and a little library so that was a bonus (along with a playground), but during this part of the trail, it was a solid 2 star. I walk through our neighborhood all the time, but for the sake of rating these trails, it wasn’t my favorite.

From the neighborhood we followed the Luce Line Trail which is a great and long trail that I would use for biking, but not my favorite for walking. It was in nice shape (newly redone), but there was no shade. I was delighted to pick up another trail covered in trees and would have been delighted if this was the path the entire way around the lake.

While the last half of the trail was much more ideal, I don’t see myself coming back here anytime soon. If I lived in the neighborhood, I would love to have this spot to walk, but not for a destination spot. Having said all that, I do appreciate anytime a city puts a trail together even if they have to peacemeal a couple trails and a neighborhood to make it work.

Hike #: 33

Trail: Parker’s Lake Loop

Location: Plymouth, MN

Trail surface: paved

Date: June 14th, 2020

Jo: ★★★

Riley: ★★★