Minneapolis – Neaton Adventures

Lake Harriet/Bde Maka Ska-Minneapolis-Minnesota

June 13, 2023Posted in Adventure, hiking, Minnesota, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Adventure, Bde Maka Ska, exploring, hiking, Hiking Adventures, Lake Harriet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, nature photography, Outdoors, Parks9 Comments

This evening’s hiking adventure began at Lake Harriet.

Minneapolis has many wonderful lakes with wide paved trails for bikers, walkers, rollerbladers, etc. to enjoy. The best part is almost all of the lakes connect to each other through a wonderful trail system.

Many sailboats call Lake Harriet home.

Normally, I take lots of trail photos. Tonight I chose not to due to all the people enjoying their evening outing. Instead, I focused on the wildlife and lake shots.

Downtown Minneapolis can be seen in the distance.

We found a Gnome and a fairy door along the trail.

This beautiful turtle was laying eggs near the trail.

A cardinal landed in the tree not far from us.

A few sailboats were out enjoying the lake.

Our next destination was Bde Maka Ska.

This lake has been a favorite of mine for years. They have many beaches, a sand volleyball court, and many different places to sit and enjoy the great outdoors. Downtown Minneapolis can be seen from many different locations around the lake.

Ducks and geese were enjoying the warm evening too. They didn’t seem bothered by the sailboat in the near distance.

We took the William Berry Parkway back to Lake Harriet.

Today’s hiking adventure was 7 miles.

Minnehaha Parkway (part 2)-Minneapolis-Minnesota

May 31, 2023Posted in Adventure, hiking, Minnesota, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Adventure, exploring, hiking, Hiking Adventures, Minneapolis, Minnehaha Creek, Minnehaha Parkway, Minnesota, nature photography, Outdoors, Parks3 Comments

We continued our hike on the Minnehaha Parkway May 30th, 2023.

We started our hiking adventure this evening where we left off last week, off of Portland Avenue. Another beautiful night to be out, a bit hot and humid but hey, it’s almost summer.

The Minnehaha Creek and Parkway cuts through a large part of South Minneapolis’ neighborhoods. This means there are many different entry points to access the parkway. There are also many different bridges to cross over the creek. Of course, we had to take in all the different views.

The trail continues under Highway 35W.

Under Nicollet Avenue was next. I find hiking under the highways and roads I use all the time so interesting.

Below one of the bridges was a small dirt island where some ducks took up residence.

Vibrant wildflowers grew alongside the trail.

Along the trail are some giant ancient trees. The trunks on some of these trees are ginormous!

The next main road we went under was Lyndale Avenue.

We continued along the parkway trail towards Lake Harriet.

We reached Lake Harriet and decided to turn around and head back to our starting point.

On our way back, we decided to hike on the other side of the creek for a bit for a different view.

Earlier we had crossed under a long pedestrian bridge. We made sure to find a way to cross over it. It was cool to see the trail below that we had just hiked.

We noticed a pine tree still decorated in holiday ornaments. I have to assume that since only the bottom half was decorated, the gnomes must have done it.

Our hiking adventure was 5.5 miles.

Minnehaha Parkway-Minneapolis-Minnesota

May 25, 2023Posted in Adventure, hiking, Minnesota, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Adventure, exploring, hiking, Hiking Adventures, Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis, Minnehaha Falls, Minnehaha Parkway, Minnesota, nature photography, Outdoors, Parks1 Comment

We hiked the Minnehaha Parkway May 23rd, 2023.

We began our evening adventure on the Minnehaha Parkway by the Minnehaha Falls. Beautiful homes, trees, and flowers lined the parkway.

There were many different bridges to cross to view the creek below.

We continued along the paved trail.

At Portland Avenue, there is a giant bunny statue. This bunny is decorated by the neighborhood residents throughout the year. We turned around and began to hike back. We chose to hike the unpaved trails close to the creek.

Being so close to the creek, the mosquitos began to swarm around us looking to make us their evening meal.

We rushed back to the paved trail trying to save ourselves from the mosquitos. It was a beautiful evening, so we decided to make a loop around Lake Nokomis before heading back to our starting point.

The lake was packed! Everyone was out enjoying the almost summer evening at Lake Nokomis. People were walking, biking, swimming, and sailboating.

The sun was beginning to set.

Lake Nokomis is near the airport and downtown Minneapolis. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires cast a haze over the sky.

The next few photos are my favorite of the evening.

We took the sidewalk through the neighborhood back towards Minnehaha Falls. We passed a mushroom that looked fake due to its size. After a closer look, we determined the mushroom was real!