Hike 32 - Rice Marsh Lake

Spring in Minnesota has been windy this year. Besides it destroying my lawn umbrella yesterday, I have loved the wind. Why? Because it makes a hike so much cooler and more enjoyable. I overheat easily which sends me into migraine mode and I’m certain that would have happened on my last two hikes had it not been for the wind. If only all my spring and summer hikes can be so breezy.

It didn’t help that we picked the hotter day of the weekend to hike, but we headed out early and I tried to find a highly shaded trail. It rained quite a bit the night before so I also planned a hike on a paved path which brought us to Rice Marsh Lake loop. There were a couple dirt path off-shoots, but they were muddy from what we could see so I was grateful to have a dry, paved path all around.

Hike #: 32

Trail: Rice Marsh Lake

Location: Eden Praire and Chanhassen, MN

Trail surface: paved with a couple dirt offshoots

Date: June 7th, 2020

Riley requested to bring my dad’s compass from when he was in the Korean War. By the end of the loop she had a better understanding of how to use a compass and what papa did in the war (built destroyed bridges in Germany). I love when she has a genuine interest in things like this. Plus, it made our walk a bit more interesting.

This trail is surrounded by a neighborhood on one side and the highway on the other, but was highly shaded (expect for a patch near the highway on our last stretch of walking). While there was the humm of the highway for part of the hike, it didn’t really bother us and most of the time we just heard the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.

There are a couple playgrounds along this trail which is nice if you have kids and want to take a break (we didn’t), but the most exciting thing we found was these rocks painted like a little village. A runner stopped us and noted that we were about to come along a fairy village up ahead. She had no idea what this meant to Riley as she’s a huge fairy lover. She even noted, as we left the house, that the compass would help her find fairies. Indeed, it did.

Riley and I were huge fans of this trail for it being paved and urban. Riley noted that she would give it a 4.5 if possible. Jesse noted that it gets a 3 just for being good weather, having no bugs, and lots of shade. I think he’s underselling this trail, but to each his own.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★

Riley: ★★★★

Hike 20 - Purgatory Creek Park

With Riley at her grandparents, Jesse and I decided to go on a hike of our own. We were still dealing with wet trails and hot days so we wanted to get out early to beat the heat and find a trail that was dry. A few rose to the top of my list, but I decided that I wanted Riley to go on those so I suggested this trail in Eden Prairie. I’d actually walked it a couple years ago while Riley was at a birthday party nearby and had always wanted to bring Jesse back.

Hike #: 20

Trail: Purgatory Creek Park

Location: Eden Prairie, MN

Trail surface: paved, although there is a crushed rock trail that you can cut across part of the creek, but it was flooded when we were there so we had to turn around.

Date: 7/7/19

I’ve had a hard time searching for Purgatory Creek to find this trail. In fact, there is a Purgatory trail in nearby Minnetonka that we checked out last year. If you Google ‘Purgatory Creek Pavilion’ you will find a good start for this trail as there is a parking lot, and pavilion there. There are also some statues honoring our Military that is worth stopping to pay your respects at.

This trail is a mix of shade and open sky, but is mostly open. It started out as a nice breezy hike, but we quickly heated up walking on the asphalt trail with the sun beating down on us at 9:30 in the morning. I need to start my hikes at 6 am to avoid this summer heat, I think. The trail is surrounded by houses and businesses and shops, and even connects to another nearby lake if you want to make it a longer hike. We might have if it weren’t for the heat.

This is the joy of living in Minnesota - there is lake after lake after lake and often a trail is built to walk around them. It’s something I often take for granted, but appreciate that our state makes sure that some of these lakes are preserved enough that anyone can enjoy them.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★