I planned to hike Hyland park the week before, but it was 95 degrees that day so that was a big 'nope'. A week later, we got up and called my mother in law to see if she wanted to join us for a morning hike. We met up at the Richardson Nature Park, a section of the larger Hyland Park.

Hike #: 9

Trail: Hyland Richardson Nature Park

Location: Bloomington, MN

Trail surface: dirt, paved

Date: 6/3/18

I printed out a trail map and off we went, although we weren't sure on which path to take. We checked the map near the nature center and couldn't quite figure it out (even Jesse who is usually better at navigation than me) so we just started walking. Soon enough, we found ourselves on a great nature trail. I have to admit it was a bit of a surprise to find an area that we could feel so secluded and still be in a highly populated city.

But then we got lost. We didn't realize it at first. We found ourselves amongst the ski trails and disc golf area. We'd checked the printed map and Jesse checked his phone multiple times, but somehow we'd gotten way off. The kicker is, early in our walk, Riley suggested we go back the way we'd just come and we said 'no' thinking she wanted to cut the hike short, but it really was the way we needed to go. While we LOVED this trail at first, it could have used much better signage along the trail, and that caused us to dock it points. We thought about cutting through the woods at some point and eventually stopped people to ask if they knew how to get back to the correct trail. We all joked that it was a good thing that we brought food and water because we might have had to camp out on the ski hills of Bloomington.

Even with getting lost and putting something like 12,000 steps on my Fitbit, I'd really like to come back and try this trail again. It deserves a better rating.

Jo: ★★★

Jesse: ★ (he started out with a 4 until we got lost)

Riley: ★★