This week's
column is by St. Paul freelancer Kate Havelin,
author of Best Hikes of the Twin Cities, a Midwest Book Awards finalist. Her Minnesota
Running Trails: Dirt, Gravel, Rocks, and Roots won the Midwest
Book Awards' Best Sports, Travel, and Recreation Book in 2007. She'll be giving
a trail talk at St. Paul’s Merriam Park
Library on Wednesday, September 16th at 7 p.m. For more details, check
Kate’s website.
Minnesota
has more miles of Mississippi River than any other state, and no city can claim
more miles of the Mississippi than St. Paul. A good place to start your Capitol City Mississippi
tour is in downtown, at the Science
Museum. Just inside the
door, you can explore the
Mississippi
River Visitor Center, where you’ll find gallons of information about the Mississippi River and Recreation Area. The 72-mile stretch of river in the Twin
Cities is a national park—a treasure like the Grand Canyon
and the Statue of Liberty. The visitor center is free and open daily, with
programs, videos, and games.
Before you leave the Science Museum, check out its marvelous
Mississippi River Gallery, which includes an authentic towboat perched on a
balcony 75 feet above the river. Visitors can play the Virtual River Pilot
video game to find out how well they could navigate a tow load of barges
through St. Paul’s
bridges. And don’t miss the
museum’s
wall of windows overlooking the river.
When
you’re ready to start walking outside, head to St. Paul’s Upper Landing, just
south of the Science
Museum on Shepard Road and Eagle Street. Pretty
sculptures and fountains decorate the riverfront landings here. Head west along
the paved Samuel H. Morgan Regional Trail hugging the river and you’ll see the
six-story St. Paul Municipal Grain Elevator, which reminds visitors that this
river was and still is a working river. Continue west along the riverfront and you’ll
pass the 1920s era
Island Station Power
Plant. As you continue along the trail, you’ll see Lilydale and Harriet Island Regional
Parks across the river. You
can choose to stay on the Samuel Morgan Trails
or walk, bike, or drive across one of St. Paul’s many bridges to get to Harriet
Island and Lilydale.
Kids may want to explore Harriet
Island’s playground, but this riverfront park is probably best known for being
home to the popular
Padelford river boats. If you want a snack, meal, or drink, step aboard the
River Boat Grill, located at Harriet Island’s East entrance.
About
a mile west of Harriet Island, sits Lilydale Regional
Park, where, if you
you’re up for a hilly hike, you can climb dirt trails,
past
clay pits where bricks used to be mined and fossils are still found to the
Bruce
Vento Scenic Overlook. From the overlook, visitors can look down at Pickerel Lake and perhaps catch site of an eagle
or heron. Hundreds of species of birds depend on the river, which is an
important migration corridor.
Whether you wander through
Lilydale and the Big Rivers Regional Trails on the south side of the river or
stay north on the Samuel Morgan trail and Shepard Road, the Mississippi River in
St. Paul is rich with birds, boaters, barges, and more. About two miles west of
downtown St. Paul, just west of 35E, is the south entrance to
Crosby
Farm Regional Park, one of the Twin Cities’ largest remaining sections
of floodplain forest. Volunteers with the
Friends of the Mississippi River are restoring a
prairie at Crosby. Crosby hums with people,
year round, from dog-walkers and anglers to birders and cross-country skiers.
Of
course, you don’t have to spend the day in St. Paul
to get to know the Mississippi.
After all, here in the Twin Cities, the river defines where we live. To learn
more about where to see eagles, other parks and recreation areas along with
maps and activities, check out a
Mississippi River Visitor Guide.
What
else is happening in our state? Be sure to check out WCCO 4 News at 10 every
Sunday night, where you can learn more in the weekly segment Finding Minnesota.
Finding
Minnesota
