Minneapolis – Neaton Adventures

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.

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!