Hike 40 - Normandale Lake

It’s spring in Minnesota which means that many trails are muddy. We’ve been itching to get out and are still limited by the places we can go with COVID-19 still being so predominant so we’ve been selecting a number of paved trails to keep us on track.

I’m always impressed with the number of trails close to home. We go to a trail near our house many, many times each year, but it’s nice to know that we can hop in a car and have so many options within 20 minutes from home.

I’ve driven past Lake Normandale more times than I can count, but have never given it a thought until searching for nearby paved trails. It’s a nice 2 mile trail with some points of interest. One being a waterfall, and the other is being able to see the ski jump up the hill. It almost makes me want to come back in the winter when people are actually sking down that particular jump.

Trail: Lake Normandale Loop Trail

Location:  Bloomington, MN

Trail surface: paved

Date: 3/14/21

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★

Riley: ★★★★

This trail was well maintained, close to home, interesting and dry - no muddy shoes! Plus, there are so many trails near this one (some of which we’ve explored).

Hike 27 - Bush Lake Loop

I’ve lost track of how many weeks and days we’ve been mostly at home due to COVID-19. We’ve gone out for essentials such as groceries and have taken many walks around the neighborhood, but have mostly been trying to stay safe at home. However, now that the weather is a bit nicer, it’s hard not to want to get out of the house. We live in a first ring suburb of a major city so it sometimes takes some planning to figure out where to go to avoid the crowds. Honestly, this isn’t that different from pre-COVID life as we like to avoid groups of people, but it seems especially important now.

On this particular day, we didn’t want to drive too far, but wanted to find a place that wasn’t overrun with people who had the same idea to get outside and I think we succeeded. We like to head out early in the day and I think that seems to help with the crowds as well.

Hike #: 27

Trail: Bush lake Loop

Location: Bloomington, MN

Trail surface: paved

Date: April 25th, 2020

Jo: ★★★

Jesse: ★★

Riley: ★★★

We’d walked an adjacent trail a year or so ago which we liked, but were frustrated with as we got lost. Since then I use my AllTrails app to make sure we are following the trail that we want to. It’s made a huge difference as some of these trails can be a little confusing (especially when there are a series of trails you can take).

This trail went partly through fields, around the lake, and through a neighborhood. We’d been looking to walk a little further as a lot of these hikes have been around the 2 mile mark so this 4 miler seemed like a good idea. I’d rather have a nature trail, but it was sort of nice to see a different neighborhood and admire the houses (we are looking to remodel so we are hyper alert to house designs).

While this might have felt a little long for Riley, she did fine and it was nice to find a trail that was close to home. I’ve said it before, but I’ll note it again… I love Minnesota for all the parks and trails that are maintained . It really makes a difference in our quality of life.