MRT Riding Day 8 - 8/8/2026 – Ramsey to South St Paul – 46 miles

 We find that navigating large metro areas bike can be quite challenging, and today was no different.  Minneapolis / St Paul has an impressive set of bike trails, but there are always some complexities.  Today we ran into three trail closures to navigate.  Often when there is a bike trail closure there is no defined detour.   Our navigator was excellent today and we made it through with only 4 or 5 extra miles.  The route took us first across the Ferry St bridge to Champlin, then on the West Mississippi River Trail around Minneapolis, next across the E 46th Street bridge to the St Paul side, on the Ground Rounds Trail, next across the Robert St bridge back over the river to the South St Paul side, then the Robert Piram Trail.  Whew!  Thank goodness the weather was near perfect, clear skies, no wind, cool morning, a bit warm low 80s in the afternoon.

Mississippi River view from one of our bridge crossings.  The bike trails are tucked into both sides of the river bluffs in the trees.  And the trails were very busy with the Saturday foot and bike traffic.

Lots of people out kayaking on the river today too.

Minneapolis skyline from the trail

MRT Riding Day 7 - 8/7/2026 - St. Cloud to Ramsey – 57 miles

The weather forecast changed over night to a strong chance of rain.   The skies were cloudy and threatening rain all day.  We rode the Mississippi River Trail again today. The MRT route has been well marked since our start in Bemidji.  The route today started with a great trail, the Beaver Island Trail, which ran from the St. Cloud State University campus to and thru Clearwater MN – 16 miles total.  Having such a great trail to start our day was a nice surprise.   At mile 20 it started to sprinkle; at mile 21 we had light rain; at mile 25 the rain let up and was a sprinkle once again.  We stopped in Monticello and took a look at the weather radar and saw that heavy rains would start soon.  So we hung out in a coffee shop and waited for the worst of the rain to pass.  The rest of the ride was rain free.

We had a long stretch of boardwalk on the bike trail into Ramsey.

MRT Riding Day 6 - 8/6/2026 - Little Falls to St. Cloud - 39 miles

Today we switched to the west side of the Mississippi River and followed river side roads all the way to St. Cloud. We rode on a combination of the Great River Road and the MRT.  We had the best views of the Mississippi that we have had yet on this tour.  The weather was sunny and the temps were great, but once again we had strong headwinds.   

We stopped at the Lindbergh Museum just south of Little Falls. We visited the grounds but the house was closed. 

Beautiful river side views today with wide shoulder roads and almost no traffic.

MRT Riding Day 5 - 8/5/2026 - Brainerd to Little Falls - 37 miles

We enjoyed the final 14 miles of the Paul Bunyan Trail this morning as we left Brainerd and the trail wound its way beside the Mississippi.   Once off the trail, the route was along Highway 371 on the east side of the river.   371 had nice wide shoulders so we felt relatively safe.  But the traffic was definitely noisy.   There were several frontage roads along the way to provide relief from the high noise.  While the route was totally flat the main challenge was a strong headwind with gusts of up to 25 MPH.

Still following the MRT (Mississippi River Trail) hike route signs.

 Navigators photo over the pilot's shoulder.  The road was a bit busy but the shoulders were good.

We learned that the Minnesota highways have ATV lanes in the side ditches!

The Mississippi is steadily growing as we ride south.

 

MRT 8/4/2026 - DAY OFF - Enjoying Brainerd MN

Saw some sights in town.  And here is the Mississippi from the Brainerd bridge.  After 100+ miles wondering south from Bemidji it is a bit wider. 

MRT Riding Day 4 - 8/3/2026 – Pequot Lakes to Brainerd – 25 miles

Today the Paul Bunyan Trail led us to Brainerd. We continued our journey along many lakes and through dense forester.   The trail was almost completely flat.  Besides a steady headwind, the weather was again ideal.

 

Stopping at Nisswa for morning coffee and tea right next to the trail.   Taking a relaxed pace today with a short distance to ride.

 

MRT Riding Day 3 - 8/2/2026 - Walker to Pequot (Pee-Kwot) - 37 miles

 Continuing riding the Paul Bunyan Trail today.  We had a pretty good headwind today.  The great tree lined trail helped with both the wind and the heat.    There are several nice small towns on the route spaced just right for taking a break. So many lakes along the way.  Today we learned that to be called a lake the body of water must be at least 10 acres in surface area.  Minnesota has 11,842 such bodies of water.  Whoa !

 

We will be following the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) on most of our trip. 

 

Lucette statue at Hackensack – Paul Bunyans girlfriend