Walking the Mississippi River Gorge Trails

View from the Ford Parkway Bridge

By far, my favorite walk in the Twin Cities is the Winchell Trail along the west bank of the Mississippi River Gorge between Minnehaha Park and the Franklin Bridge.  It's about a 2.5 mile packed dirt track that gets you off the paved bike and pedestrian path that follows West River Parkway on the Minneapolis side.  I don't really enjoy sharing the paved path with bikers who are whizzing by and who may or may not shout out the customary "on your left" warning.  I try to stay on my side but if I'm looking at a flower or a bird, I may not see or hear you you coming. Pedestrian rage. To get to the Winchell I take the light rail out of downtown Minneapolis to the Minnehaha Park stop and look for the path that starts right after the road that goes down to the lock and dam.  In a perfect world like yesterday, I get an early start and make it to the all the way to the Lake Street Bridge and the Longfellow Grill before their morning happy hour is over.  I can get a $2.50 Freehouse brown ale (Minneapolis North Loop brewery) and have a bite to eat before getting back on the trail.  Yesterday I tried the oatmeal pancakes and I would walk twice that far for those cakes. 

   

As many times as I have looked under the Lake Street Bridge this was the first time that I tried to do a little clean up.  There was new graffiti and a lot of empty spray cans.  While I understand the desire for people to make their artistic statement, I do not see why leaving the cans behind is part of that mentality.

So back to the Ford Parkway Bridge and a different day.  Does the same kind of trail exist on the east side of the river? First I had to take a peek under the Ford Parkway Bridge.  That's a one time only deal.  Too steep for me to drag myself down and back up more than once.

Looking way up at the underside of the bridge, you wonder who had the nerve to get up there and how?

It is a teenage wasteland down there and LOTS of trash.  I could clean it up but there would be no way for me to haul it back up the hill.

Better for some group like Wilderness Inquiry to canoe into this area and then haul it out.

So yes, there is a similar dirt track that goes along the cliffs on the east side of the river. I could not find this trail referenced on any map, but here it is. There are places on the trail that really come too close to the edge of the cliffs so maybe that is why the park service doesn't mention the trail.  You can bet that any kid from the neighborhood knows which trails go down to the river or have a good view. Even though I can hear the street noise and lawn mowers, better to be down on the dirt track and watch for birds. 

Looking across to the Minneapolis side you can see some interesting views.  I wonder if this is one of the old outfalls from years ago when raw sewage went directly into the river....now converted to storm water only.  

We exited the trail at the University of St. Thomas for lunch, but we'll continue our urban wilderness walk here on another day.  I wonder what else is under that bridge?