I went for a bike ride on Easter Sunday from my home which is just West of Downtown St. Paul to Battle Creek Regional Park. I rode on the bike trails along the river and it is a lovely ride. If you like to walk, bike, run or roller blade as some folks were doing on Easter I highly recommend the river trails. A small section of the trail is closed right under the lafayette bridge but it isn’t hard to get through it.
I made this map with the GPS in my phone:
Bike Trail
Most of the trail is along the river and some of it goes through wooded areas by the river. I saw some deer yesterday and almost always see wildlife along the path.
Battle Creek park is a great place to hike in the woods and see wildflowers and birds. This is what the park will look like in early May.
On this “second day of spring,” you’ve encouraged me to get on my trusty Trek! Like you, I enjoy a Great River ride for fantastic views of wildlife, people and the glorious architecture of the city. My quick route was learned from the women’s bike ride coming out of the Birchwood Cafe on Tuesday evenings, personally modified to begin at 35E and slowly burned uphill along the wild and landscaped Kellogg Parkway, (pedal, pedal, pedal,) passing in front of the Science Museum’s Big Back Yard (opening May 28!) to Battle Creek Park. For variety I start on the other side of the river at Lilydale Park, (currently open to bike traffic only while they clean up the asphalt! yippee!) past the marina and through the park at Harriet Island, which teems with interesting happenings, Raspberry Island, and catch my breath to begin the aerobic conditioning of the Wabasha Street bridge. I love to continue through the streets of downtown (careful!) down to the river on Jackson St, and onto the parkway again to Battle Creek Park (described perfectly). Or how about this? Find Johnson Parkway at Hwy 61 and get oneself up and around Lake Phalen! The route to Phalen requires more fitness then I now possess, so I happily begin at the beginning, adding consistency to my biking schedule with the hope of adding tons of mileage, soon. Thanks for sharing!
That sounds lovely. :))