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.

Hike 18 - Lake Harriet

Here’s the deal… we have gone on more hikes this year than I’m noting, but I’d decided not to count repeat spots. We tend to head over to our local nature center a lot and it would be no fun to document a repeated spot over and over. The thing is that it’s been wet this year, really wet. So many trails have been flooded or are muddy that it hasn’t been fun. That happened to us in May - a trail I’ll write about next because we went back when it was dryer so we could actually complete the trail.

But we didn’t want to give up on our hikes completely so in June we picked a paved trail around a local lake that we knew was dry. This one certainly feels way more like a walk - paved trails, in the city, tons of people, but we’re counting it.

Hike #: 18

Trail: Lake Harriet

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Trail surface: paved, paved, paved

Date: 6/1/19

What can I say about this trail? You walk around a beautiful lake that’s surrounded by houses that I will never be able to afford. There’s a concession stand where you can get a meal, drinks, or a treat. There is a trolley nearby that was fun enough the one time we went with Riley, but once was probably enough. There is a beach, but it was closed at the time due to high algae levels. There is a band shell where they have shows and concerts. There are a lot of walkers (with dogs - so many dogs!), runners and bike riders. In fact, it was on this walk that we started entertaining the idea that we should get a dog of our own. That idea has fizzled out a bit, but I’m sure that spark will be easily ignited again by walking this trail. Oh, and there’s a great playground near the band shell to let your kid play at after your walk.

Apparently, I only took pictures at the bandstand, but it’s nice trail that’s well used by the community. Honestly, this trail/lake/park and the others nearby are one of the reasons I love Minneapolis and Minnesota so much.

Jo: ★★★

Jesse: ★★★

Riley: ★★★★