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 31 - Cedar Lake

We woke up Saturday not really knowing how the day would end. It was another day of unrest, of protests, and unfortunately a lot of looting and burning of businesses. George Floyd had been killed by police on Monday and the city was upet… for George, for Brianna, Ahmaud, Eric, Michael, Philando and ALL the others. I’ve been talking with my family and having very intentional conversations with my 10 year old white daughter about what’s going on now. What HAS been going on. And honestly, I’m having a lot of conversations with myself. What can I do? What impact can I make? I don’t want to be another white person who just posts a picture and a hashtag on social media.

I haven’t been protesting, but that doesn’t mean I don’t support the protestors. I have been reflecting and figuring out how to best use my white voice to support black humans, to support justice, and to be an ally. It’s still a work in progress as I’m educating myself and processing what has been happening in the world. As my daughter noted “the world is really stressful right now”. So with my white privalage, I asked my family to go on a walk with me Saturday morning. Walking and getting out in nature is how I try to de-stress and I’m grateful that I am able to do so. To be honest, part of me wanted to just go out alone and be with my thoughts, but I also find comfort in my family and I was glad to have them with me.

I debated all morning about just walking out the door and wandering around the neighborhood or selecting a new trail to explore. I finally came to a decision and selected a trail nearby. Cedar Lake is really close to our house, but I was under the impression that the trail only goes around part of the lake - and that is sort of true. It’s not like some of our other city lakes with a clear paved trail along the shore, but it does have a trail that I was able to map out, and then modify once out walking to make it a new favorite for us.

We started out in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood following the paved trail and then met up with the Cedar Lake trail. I discovered there were some detours, but the best discovery was that there were dirt trails within a woodsy area. Paved trails are fine. I like them when I know it’s been raining a lot and the earth is wet, but they aren’t what I prefer. I’d rather walk on dirt and grass and feel the connection to the earth as much as I can. There was a number of trails weaving through the woods and I’m excited to go back to explore this area more. Even my husband raved over it and determined that this might be a good change from the Westwood Hills Nature Center near our house that he walks through quite a bit.

Hike #: 31

Trail: Cedar Lake

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Trail surface: dirt, paved

Date: May 30th, 2020

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★ (Jesse wanted to note that this is an enthusiastic 4 and the only reason it isn’t a 5 is because it’s a city trail)

Riley: ★★★★

There were a lot of messages along the way that were worth reading and worth getting behind. As I write this, it’s a few days later. There has been a lot of looting and destruction of businesses, a huge scare with a semi on a closed highway, violence against people and media…, but there has been a lot of peaceful protests. Each day people get out to speak their voice, clean up the community, and be visable. It’s not just hear in Minnesota, or even in the United States - we are seeing protests around the world, people making their feelings known that this injustice needs to stop.

Hike 30 - Minneopa State Park

My company continues to impress me with what they do for their employees. That has been extra clear through the COVID-19 pandemic and now George Floyd’s death and the resulting protests. It’s been a stressful time and they have found multiple ways to support all of us. On Thursday, my boss called and let me know they were giving me Friday off paid. It was a simple gesture, but greatly appreciated.

We decided to use it to get away - at least farther than we’ve been in awhile. We drove about an hour and a half to Mankato to explore Minneopa State Park. Minneopa is known for it’s waterfall, bison and more. Minneopa is a Dakota word meaning "follows the water, two waterfalls."

We started with the loop around the bison (they are fenced in) where we were able to stop at the Seppmman windmill overlook to see the bison from above and read about the mill history. The trail was fairly flat and partly shaded, but there were large patches in full sun so make sure to bring a hat and sunscreen. We were able to see the bison and their babies at the far end of the loop, from the overlook, and from our car when we drove through on the bison road.

Hike #: 30

Trail: Minneopa State Park

Location: Mankato, MN

Trail surface: dirt, grass

Date: May 29th, 2020

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Riley: ★★★★

We’ve been doing a lot of 2 - 3 miles trails so this one was nice as it ended up being just over 5 miles. Riley was a trooper and didn’t complain once. I overheat easily and might have complained more about this trail with the open sun, but it was a windy day which made it much more enjoyable.

From this trail, we hopped in the car and drove over to the water falls. This trail is less than a mile (although I understand that there were some off shoot trails that were closed off), but worth it. Things are still a bit closed down to COVID-19, but there were multiple buildings, shelters, open space, walkways, and of course the falls, to explore.