Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge-Bloomington-Minnesota

December 17, 2023Posted in Adventure, hiking, Minnesota, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Adventure, exploring, hiking, Hiking Adventures, Long Meadow Lake Unit, Minnesota, Minnesota River, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, nature photography, Outdoors, River Trails, Winter1 Comment

Today’s hiking adventure began at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, the Long Meadow Lake Unit.

We hiked the Long Meadow Lake Trail.

The wildlife refuge is surrounded by office buildings, the airport, Mall of America, hotels, and apartments however, all those buildings seem to fade away the further along the trail one goes.

The trail followed alongside the Minnesota River. Eagles perched high in the trees above us. We saw several of their giant nests too.

We continued along the trail towards Highway 77.

Once on the other side of the Highway 77 bridge, the trail became much narrower.

Beavers definitely made their mark on some of the trees. We even spotted several hornet nests.

Some of the trees had a vibrant green moss growing on them.

River trails are some of our favorite trails. The bikers with the fat tire bikes seem to enjoy them too.

We crossed over a few small creeks.

We reached another highway and stopped to look at the map. At this point we could turn around and head back to our starting point or we could continue along the river trail. Well, the river trail won 2-0.

We crossed under Highway 35W.

Several different trails caught our attention, but we decided to return and hike those in the near future.

With all the open fields, we were surprised we didn’t see any deer.

Now birds, we saw so many different types of birds throughout our hike… Eagles, Cardinals, Geese, Ducks, small blue birds, and so many more! Someday I will learn the names of those birds too. Unfortunately, they fly so darn fast I couldn’t get a good photo of them.

We did find some mushrooms though.

The trail led us towards a creek.

In order to stay on the trail, we needed to cross over the creek. Thankfully, we found a way. Not sure if it was a beaver dam, but it worked. We carefully made our way across the creek. The small hill on the other side doesn’t look so big however, it was super muddy and with each step up, we would slide down.

As we continued our adventure, an old broken down wooden bridge appeared across the river from us.

The cold damp weather began to seep into our bones. We decided to end our adventure and call for a ride back to our starting point.

Today’s hiking adventure was 12.3 miles.

Athletic Park-Chaska-Minnesota

December 17, 2022Posted in Adventure, hiking, Minnesota, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Adventure, Athletic Park, Carver, Carver Creek, Chaska, Chaska Unit, exploring, hiking, Hiking Adventures, Minnesota, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, nature photography, Outdoors, Parks, Rapids Lake Unit, Winter2 Comments

Today’s hiking adventure began at Athletic Park.

We hiked the Levee Trail alongside the Chaska Unit which is part of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Our recent snowstorm this week created a beautiful blanket of white snow throughout the State of Minnesota. Snow gently topped the Sumac and icicles shimmered in the sun.

Along the trail we found a park next to the Carver Water Tower with old metal playground equipment. It had an old school merry-go-round! We had to take it for a spin. After a few long laughs, we continued on our hike.

The Minnesota River was partially frozen.

Carver Creek Loop was the next trail we hiked.

The crisp white snow created a stark contrast along the shoreline of Carver Creek.

Clouds covered the sky for most of our hike however, the sun tried to make an appearance.

Rapids Lake Unit at Bluff Park was our next destination. We continued along the Carver Creek Loop trail. The trail went from a few footprints and fat tire tracks on the trail to having only one set of footprints in the snow and then no footprints. We followed some animal tracks on what appeared to be a trail. A few miles in, we saw a sign stating we were on the Rapids Lake Trail.

We decided to turn around and hike back to the Carver Creek Loop. I’m not sure why the trail is labeled as a loop since there is no loop. Our off the beaten path adventure allowed us to see three deer prancing, a flock of swans fly overhead, and best of all…hear the silence of the winter forest.

Today’s hiking adventure was 9 miles.

Louisville Swamp-Shakopee-Minnesota

December 10, 2022Posted in Adventure, hiking, Minnesota, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Adventure, exploring, hiking, Hiking Adventures, Louisville Swamp, Mazomani Trail, Minnesota, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, nature photography, Outdoors, Parks, Shakopee, Winter1 Comment

Today’s hiking adventure was at Louisville Swamp.

We hiked the Mazomani Trail through the Louisville Swamp.

Our first stop was to take in the view at the Bluff Overlook.

The trail followed alongside the Louisville Swamp creek.

Eventually, we had to make a decision to cross over the creek or turn back around. We decided to jump on the rocks and ice to the other side. Of course I had to stop midway to take pictures.

Our next stop was to explore Jab’s Farm. The house was made from sandstone in 1880.

Back on the trail again.

Our next find was a GIANT boulder.

The mushrooms didn’t seem to mind the snow.

Mother Earth always seems to amaze us! We found wild cucumber pods. They appeared to decorate the trees like holiday ornaments. We also found a sweet tiny new branch growing from a stump.