After another week of rain and snow, the cold weather finally moved out creating a perfect sunny day for a hiking adventure. We began our hike at Crosby Farm Regional Park. We spotted eagles, ducks, geese, and even a grey heron along the shores of Crosby Lake as we hiked the paved trails towards the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River trail offered beautiful views of the river. We also found several trees and rocks painted with red hearts and other graffiti along the river trail.

The trail brought us to Hidden Falls Regional Park. The actual Hidden Falls is hidden off the main trail, hence its name. The falls eluded us last summer, however, today we found our way.

Hidden Falls Creek flows into the Mississippi River. Parts of the creek were still covered in a thick sheet of ice.

We climbed the old rock steps by the falls to the Mississippi River Boulevard Parkway. Hiking the river road allowed us to loop back to our starting point, giving us a different perspective of the river below. Downtown Minneapolis and Fort Snelling can be seen in the distance in the photos below.

We made it back to our starting point at Crosby Farm Regional Park and decided to continue our hiking adventure a little further. The trail allowed us to cross the Mississippi River along the Highway 35 E bridge. Downtown St. Paul can be seen in the distance.

We found a dirt trail alongside the highway and decided to see where it would lead.

The trail led us to the underside of the 35 E Bridge. We found a cool view of the belly of the bridge and some colorful graffiti.

Today’s hiking adventure was 9.8 miles.