A popular park with an emphasis on nature, meaning they haven't cut every tree in site and crew cut…read morethe grass. Plenty for us tree huggers to appreciate with some winding trails. Great views along the bluff and then we realize this park area just keeps going. There is modern 'Gathering Area' for indoor events and room outdoors for your 250 guest outdoor wedding pending Minnesota's rapidly changing weather. Bikers follow a trail from Hastings and then head south, we hikers can hike till we near drop.

Loved this park! We visited on a beautiful sunny mild winter Feb morning. The path is paved so easy…read moreto walk. It follows the river with some stunning bridge views over ravines. We saw several hawks and bald eagles. It looked like they had some non-paved trails that were marked for cross country skiing which I assume would be available for walking in the summer. Will definitely be back!

It's a bit confusing where to park... I know Apple maps randomly took me to the boat ramp parking…read moreafter passing by two other perfectly good small parking lots that connected to the trail. Which, since I wanted to just hike around in the autumn sunshine, I turned my car around and went back to. There was a port-a-john in the lot I parked in, which I appreciated. A little ways walk I also located a large gazebo-like structure with picnic tables. Didn't seem to have restrooms and the water fountain had already been turned off for the cold season. The trail is paved all the way around, which I suppose is nice for bicyclists, but not what I'd prefer as a hiker as it is hard on the feet and doesn't feel very nature-y. I also thought that in late October, this spot would be gorgeous, but for whatever reason all the trees had either already shed their leaves or were just kind of a sickly yellow color. Oh well. It was neat hiking along the river on either side; plus I got to watch a train go over the tresses on the north end. Not a super long walk, maybe an hour's worth if you go all the way around. Oh, there's also a small fenced-off section serving as a "dog park" but it didn't look very appealing or well-maintained... Also, people who drive their cars through here seem to want to speed above the limit... which is like weird because why not cruise and enjoy the scenery? Plus, the trail crosses the road in numerous places, so if you're speeding, you're more liable to hit someone. =/ It just doesn't feel well designed.

When my boys were little they attended a fossil camp that visited Lilydale for fossil hunting. The…read moreboys are teenagers and they still fossil hunt. Nice paved parking lot, wide walking path. We follow the path and walk up the big hill. Near the top of the hill to the left is the premiere location for fossils. Usually the boys hunt while the rest of us continue up the path taking in the nature. Great little get away during Covid.

Dropped by because my husband and I are planning to buy a home soon, and any place we live needs to…read morebe nearby a public park. I had a lot of fun while I was here! There is more than one entrance/parking lot where you can park; I entered from Upper Afton Road in the Pavilion Area and hiked through that area as well as the Eastern Trails area sound of that. Total time spent was two and a half hours just enjoying the trails and scenery and exploring about, and I didn't even check out the Bluff Corridor or Winthrop Recreation areas! The playground is most certainly an A+ feature of the park. The slides are tall enough to even give an adult a thrill going down, haha. There's also a fun zipline and some natural climbing poles as well that are fun. If that's not enough, there's even a waterpark! (Obviously the waterpark is seasonal June to August, so it wasn't open while I was there, but still so neat!) The pavilion is quite large, a bandshell-esque structure with plenty of picnic tables and shade, with trash cans and recycling and bathrooms available (toilets are also seasonal, but there were plenty of port-a-potties scattered about so you could relieve yourself). I was also delighted by the small pollinator/gardening area, which also featured a free little library. The trails are well maintained and primarily paved for multi-use. There were some dirt paths you could choose to take in the Eastern Trails area, which I did. Many of them offer additional elevation change to increase your challenge rating, if desired. c: I appreciated the frequent and easily legible trail marker signs at each intersection; I was never at risk of getting lost! All in all, a large peaceful place to enjoy nature.

I've been a couple times to walk the 2 mile paved loop this summer and the views are stunning. So…read moreexcited this park is so close by.

This starts off in a fairly standard kids playground and park, but the trail will take you through…read moresome nice scenery, with thick vegetation. A few of the trails go over a nice wooden bridge and through deeper woods. Other than Bloomington, I haven't seen such nice parks south of Minneapolis.

This is a beautiful park/trail system that meanders around a couple lakes while getting to see some…read morenice homes and yards. The trail is completely blacktop, no dirt, perfect for bikes. The reason that I stopped here is during the development of this area, I watched the trails and lakes being developed. I always wanted to check them out. As we were driving by, my dog started going crazy like when she gets excited for a nature walk, so my wife and i stopped and took a walk around for the first time. We went around both lakes, there is a bridge crossing between the 2 lakes. It is a couple miles around both lakes. My wife and I want to stop back. This trail system connects to Lake Community Park that you can also find on Facebook. I will check to see if it is on Yelp the next time. That is a good park to park your car at to go into walk/bike. Be sure to look at the photos i took. Very polite and friendly people walking around this lake/trail system.

Hidden jem in the middle of oakdale. Highly recommend for a nice walk and bird watching. Bring your…read morekids bring your spouse, bring whoever wants to learn about nature. I particularly liked the info on the plant life. Plenty of fun birds to watch and just an overall peace visit. Only downside is there are no bike racks. Oh well.

My husband and I were looking for something to do close to home but also in nature and found this…read moreplace! The nature center building is closed on the weekend but the trails are open dawn to dusk. The trails were nice and secluded with so many native species of trees and flowers and animals. The trials aren't very well labeled as far as direction so taking a picture of the map was handy! The overall terrain was very easy and took us 30 minutes to walk the majority of the trail with frequent stops to read signs and watch birds. I would highly recommend and will be back again!

Last time I started on the other end of the trail, I don't recommend it. If you are going in winter…read moretime, bring cleats for your boots, last year I wiped out on the ice, fool me once... This lovely hike runs along the Mississippi River. As you can see from the pictures, there are waterfalls to see. The wild life wasn't as active due to the cold, but we still heard some birds. You've never experienced listening to a woodpecker until you've done so next to a frozen river. It echoed around like crazy. Even though this is an intermediate level trail, you are often close to the parkway so if something goes wrong it's not a long way to get help. In the winter do bring a hiking partner, cleats, warm clothes, snacks, water, and a whistle. I'm so grateful to have so a beautiful hike so close to the city.

This trail in Minneapolis is very easy to get to, there's tons of parking on the street and parking…read morelots, and it's a very easy trail to walk. Today, it was towards the end of peak fall colors season and there were tons of leaves all over and while it was past peak, it was still a very pretty walk. It wasn't super busy, but it was busy enough for you didn't feel unsafe. I believe this trail is about 5 miles round-trip, but you can go halfway or as long as you want to. as I said, it's a very easy trail to walk with slight elevation gains but overall it's the elevation stays about the same and it's very safe and it's pretty well marked.

The facility looks to have a lot to offer. It is really clean and well kept. There is a cozy room…read morewith a fireplace where cutling up with a good book would be perfect. I went and attended a buck thorn wreath making class. What fun! I had never done anything like that before. The instructor and volunteers were great. I hope to attend more activities that are offered.

On a misty summer day, we were looking for a place to walk in nature that had a canopy of trees…read moreover the path. This one was perfect. It was about a 2-mile wood-chipped path around a beautiful lake. The entire area was gorgeous and well kept up. Although we didn't have kids with us, we noticed a large, brightly colored playground area that children would love to explore.

I was in the area the other day and decided to take advantage of the nice spring weather. I wasn't…read moreexpecting a $7 day fee to enter, but I decided to consider it a donation to the parks system, fed it my debit card and got a ticket to put on my dash. There were three parking lots to choose from, but I drove all the way down to the third and last one by the park office and playground. Decided to do the approximately six mile loop on the dirt path trails (also used for skiing when there's snow on the ground). It was nice hiking through the various groupings of pine trees. I could still hear the freeway noise, but it was mostly in the background. The prettiest part was definitely at the beginning beside the lake though (but perhaps in other seasons, like fall, it might be even prettier). Some mild elevation change, nothing too challenging by any means. There was also the option to walk on a paved path with many benches if you do need something less strenuous or you aren't hiking. The playground was really cute with relatively new equipment. Lots of climbing options, slides, and one large swing (very comfy to lean back in and admire the lake). There were picnic tables around along with barbecues and trash/recycling bins. There's a dock for fishing off of, and another (at the second parking lot) for canoe/kayak launching (which I'll have to come back and try when I have some free time this summer). There were two port-a-potties available for when the park office isn't open. The park office has many a toilet, all singletons so non-gendered, which was lovely. They were clean and well-stocked. The park office didn't have much going for it from what I could glean, but there was space in the lobby to sit and relax if desired, as well as a large backroom that seemed like it was probably for classes and such. It wasn't very busy while I was there; likely because the weather was predicting a storm, but I lucked out and it never came the two hours I was there. I came across a couple that had their dogs off leash, which the park rules state you're supposed to keep your dogs leashed... People, man.

A beauty hidden gem in the southeast metro that I would recommend if you are looking for a close to…read morehome walk/bike with some varied terrain. We hiked this the first week of March and we both wish we would have worn spikes or brought poles- if you get off the main trail, there is some really great up and down. I did not have my cross country skis with me but the trails looked amazing and are groomed for both skate and classic! Highly recommend if you need to get outdoors and want some up and down!