Happy first day of Spring!
We began our hiking adventure at Woodland Trails Regional Park. The sun was shining brightly down on us as we ventured out on the trails. A thin layer of ice coated the trails making for a slippery start to the day. Our first trail was the Prairie Loop due to it being mostly clear of snow and ice.
We tried walking on the snow covered paths for a bit, however, the ice on top of the snow made for a dangerous commute.
The Great Northern Trail crossed through the park. Being it was paved and mostly clear of ice, we jumped on it and began hiking out of the park.
After a few side road detours, we hiked into the Historic Downtown Elk River. Downtown offered beautiful views of the Mississippi River and their cool water tower.
Several murals were painted on the buildings. We even came across an elk!
On the loop back to our starting point, we visited a small Veteran’s Memorial, crossed over railroad tracks and hugged a giant tree.
Today was a beautiful day for a 9 mile hiking adventure!
Neaton Adventures 
Those ice free waters mean spring is near at hand! The elk statue is dynamic.
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Seems like only yesterday it was -5F in Minneapolis. Have you thought about getting a pair of microspikes or Yaktraxs? Easy to carry and put on / take off and real handy for preventing slips on icy trails.
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I need to buy a pair of Yaktrax. They would have been super helpful to have yesterday.
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Looks like a fun hike. My friends have yaktrax and like them a lot. I’ll look for them for hiking next winter!
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It was a fun hike! I bought a pair of yaktrax yesterday. Hopefully I won’t have to use them until next winter.
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I am from Minnesota and live in Wisconsin. Looks like we’re hiking in a similar neck of the woods.
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Minnesota and Wisconsin have so many great places to hike!
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