Hike 35 - Lake Minnewashta

Ahh, after a month of hot weather, August finally gave us some cooler days. The mornings feel a little crisp which reminds me that fall is on the way. It also gets us back out on the trails. This time I narrowed down our trail options because we wanted to check out Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Garden after our hike. We headed to Lake Minnewashta and stayed mostly on the Lake trail for a 2.2 mile loop. There are many trails in this park so you could probably make this a 5 - 6 mile hike if you wanted to.

Along the start of the trail were signs along the path that told the story of 3 little owls. Some of them were a little beat up from the rain, but it was still fun to keep walking to see what happened in the story and it certainly kept Riley entertained.

Hike #: 35

Trail: Lake Minnewashta

Location: Chanhassen, MN

Trail surface: paved, nature

Date: August 2nd, 2020

This park was well maintained and wasn’t too crowded. In the middle of our walk, we came to a beach with a little library and I can imagine it was once packed pre-COVID, but we only saw one person there.

We all agreed that we’d come back here and look forward to exploring the other trails nearby.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Riley: ★★★★

Hike 34 - Crosby Lake Loop

On the first day of summer, we tried to get out the door somewhat early before it got to hot to hike. We were sort of successful, but the bugs were out in full force and so the 3.5 mile hike I had planned became 2 miles. Even with bugspray this trail was annoying, but I would love to go back when the bugs are less of an issue as this was a nice trail.

Crosby Lake trail has multiple trail options which is what allowed us to shorten our hike quite a bit, but would also allow someone to change up this hike each time you went. Besides the bugs and humidity, I enjoyed that the trails we highly shaded and a dirt or grass base. Jesse loves earth trails, but noted that the wide mowed trail reminded him of a horse trail so he took points away for that. Picky, picky.

Hike #: 34

Trail: Crosby Lake Loop

Location: Victoria, MN

Trail surface: earth

Date: June 20th, 2020

Jo: ★★★

Jesse: ★★

Riley: ★★★

*All agreed that this trail would have earned more points if the bugs were under control.

Hike 33 - Parker's Lake

While Jesse and his buddy were hiking in 90 degree weather in South Dakota, Riley and I decided to enjoy a very windy, 60 degree hike near home. We’d previously attempted to hike around Parker’s Lake as a family, but just as we showed up the sky turned black and started pouring hours earlier than anticipated.

This time the weather was much more desirable and a far amount of people agreed with us as we saw plenty of other walkers out and about. Riley and I parked in the main lot and headed left which brought us through a neighborhood first. We used the AllTrails app to help us stay on track, but even that was confusing as we were following a trail where it appeared someone might have walked through some back yards. We found our way, and a little library so that was a bonus (along with a playground), but during this part of the trail, it was a solid 2 star. I walk through our neighborhood all the time, but for the sake of rating these trails, it wasn’t my favorite.

From the neighborhood we followed the Luce Line Trail which is a great and long trail that I would use for biking, but not my favorite for walking. It was in nice shape (newly redone), but there was no shade. I was delighted to pick up another trail covered in trees and would have been delighted if this was the path the entire way around the lake.

While the last half of the trail was much more ideal, I don’t see myself coming back here anytime soon. If I lived in the neighborhood, I would love to have this spot to walk, but not for a destination spot. Having said all that, I do appreciate anytime a city puts a trail together even if they have to peacemeal a couple trails and a neighborhood to make it work.

Hike #: 33

Trail: Parker’s Lake Loop

Location: Plymouth, MN

Trail surface: paved

Date: June 14th, 2020

Jo: ★★★

Riley: ★★★