The refuge is a great place to explore nature. There are many trails to hike both short and long…read more The Visitor's Center has a wonderful display and activities. There is also a viewing area where there are bird feeders. A favorite is the turkeys that stop by! The staff here are helful and friendly. They also plan community events that are always fun and educational.

Hooray, I finally came here when the visitor center was open! I've been a couple of times in the…read morepast just to do some hiking on the trails, but I'd never gotten to see the inside as the hours are somewhat narrow being just Wednesday through Sunday. It looked really grandiose from the outside, so I'm unsurprised the inside was quite modern and comfortable. It's comprised of many available seating areas where you can sit and relax (I especially recommend the seating facing the bird feeders, though there's also a cozy fireplace), or simply wander and explore the exhibits they have up with information on them about the history of the refuge, the work its done and is doing, and the animals that inhabit it. This is important work! I'm so glad they're doing it. Unsurprisingly there is a gift shop with expected trinkets such as stickers, pins, patches, plushies, postcards, jewelry, hankerchiefs, and lots of books. So if you'd like to support the refuge and get a little something for yourself, that's a great way to do it. There is additionally an art gallery with revolving local Minnesota artists that take inspiration from nature, an auditorium playing a looped track, and plenty of space for kids to play (including corn hole and giant puzzles). There is a conference room (downstairs) and a community room (upstairs), and considerable office space (not open to the public, obviously). Two water bottle refill stations. Clean bathrooms (separated by gender, but there's also a bonus unisex, accessible one). These folks do LOTS of events throughout the year, most of them completely free to attend (some require RSVP, others don't), so I recommend keeping an eye out for something that interests you. Plenty of free parking is available on site. There are picnic tables around the visitor center, as well as an outlook with binoculars. If you go down along the left side the visitor center, it will take you to the trails if you're here to do some hiking. :)

Great park with really nice scenic walking routes. Great little bridge to over the water. Very…read moreclean and lots of parking. Definitely a beautiful spot to visit.

A fantastic little 1.1mi loop around a lake in Eagan. This park also features an impressively sized…read moregazebo with picnic tables, fire pit, restrooms (seasonal), grills, trash/recycling, and even concrete cornhole. There is a children's playground as well with a wide variety of features like swings, climbing walls/ropes, diggers, slides, spinners, and more-- you and/or your kiddos are gonna have lots of fun here. The playground is on gravel. There's also a volleyball court with sand, and lots of open grassy space to kick or throw about a ball. Seriously excellent amenities. The trail has inconsistent surfaces-- some of it is paved, other parts are dirt and gravel. Just something to be aware of (it wouldn't work well for skateboarding or rollerblading, for example). There are a couple docks you can fish off of or just sight-see from. A wooden bridge across the lake makes for excellent photographs. There is also a boat ramp (walk to, not drive to). The parking lot is pretty large with many spaces.

Lovely trail to walk this fall. Very popular so very busy…read more If you don't want crowds during these covid times probably not the best location. So popular that parking can be an issue. They have a long lot and thankfully someone else was leaving when I arrived so I could park in the lot to meet my friend for our outdoor walk and talk. Nice variety of nature- woods, lake, etc. Clear marked trail and nice spot during a less busy time.

Sadly, no bikes allowed :( It's a nice wooded area full of…read moretrails and educational experiences. Great for youngens.

Best kept secret and splash pad!! Super lovely park with all these places for kids to play in the…read morewater. They have public restrooms by the flags if you need them. Cool murals and beautiful flowers. Very beautiful peaceful place. Lots of places to sit - concrete benches and grass.

My son absolutely loves this park! Such a cool splash pad and wading pool area for kids and the…read morecommunity to use for free. They also host party on the plaza here during the summer which we've enjoyed. They have music, food trucks, movies in the park, and other festivals held here. During the winter they light up the trees, so beautiful!

Great shorter hike with some steep slick parts but we had a heavy rain last night and still very…read moredoable. One thing I'd mention that I hadn't read much about was that the poison ivy was pervasive, jutting into the path even in areas that we wouldn't have considered the paths to be overgrown. We opted to stay on the paved path until we got to the most direct path down to the falls. I used the map and route marked on Daytripper28.com's website. Enjoy!

Pretty cool place! I'm not the kind of person to say 'the air was pregnant with humidity' often,…read morebut that is the impression I got here. Lots of dragonflies dancing about here, some nice views of the Mississippi as well.

Minnesota has always impressed me with the effort it puts into its green spaces, parks, trails and…read moreespecially its playgrounds. There are a lot of good ones scattered throughout the Twin Cities, but the Hyland Play Area is operating on a different scale. The first thing that hits you is simply the enormity of it. A landscape photo barely does it justice. This isn't a playground with a couple of oversized structures--it's an entire playscape built around elevation, exploration and seemingly endless ways for kids to disappear upward and reappear somewhere completely different. There are distinct areas that make it approachable for kids of different ages, select water features, and plenty for younger children to explore without making the bigger kids feel like they've outgrown it. But the stars are those towering structures and enormous climbs spread throughout the park. If you've got a kid who needs to "get their zombies out," this ought to do it. A determined child could probably accumulate the equivalent vertical ascent of Minnesota's Eagle Mountain before lunch. What impressed me almost as much as the playground itself was how well the space handles people. There can seemingly be hundreds of kids here and somehow it doesn't feel like hundreds of kids. The scale absorbs everyone. Instead, you get this constant background soundtrack of giggles, playful screams and kids absolutely exhausting themselves. And somebody clearly thought about the adults. There are huge umbrellas providing shade along with benches, tables and places to settle in while the kids go explore. You quickly understand why the crowd is such an interesting mix: stay-at-home parents making a morning of it, grandparents with their grandchildren, friends meeting up with their kids, and even remote workers squeezing in some laptop time while periodically looking up to make sure everyone is still accounted for. It's less "take the kids to the playground for 30 minutes" and more pack some food, bring water and make this the destination. We're only reviewing the play area for now, but based on this alone, Hyland deserves the five stars. It's enormous without feeling chaotic, ambitious without forgetting the little kids, and thoughtfully designed for the adults who inevitably spend half their day here too. Minnesota does parks exceptionally well. This is one of the ones worth going out of your way for.

Hyland Lake Park is one of my favorite places to rent a kayak and fish for bass in the Twin Cities…read more The lake is never too busy and the bass are always biting :) I easily rented a single-person kayak online and walked up to the rental booth to pick up my life jacket and paddle - off I went! There is a nice sandy beach, and other boats available to rent (including paddle boats!) This is a must-stop for your summer itinerary in Minnesota!

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.