MRT Riding Day 11 - 8/11/2026 – Pepin WI to Winona MN - 45 miles

 The ride today from Pepin to Winona took us along Wisconsin SR 35 to the Winona Bridge, over the Mississippi and back into Minnesota.  The route was mostly along Lake Pepin at first and then the River.  We had many buffs towering above us to add interest.  Today the towns were evenly spaced ever 7 to 8 miles apart, so services were readily available. The train tracks have been close by the road since Prescott, always between us and the river.  These are a dual set of tracks and there have been many trains running both north and south.  If we wave at the Engineers they always blow their horns. The weather today was good and just a bit cooler than yesterday.  The humidity is still very high – are we getting used to it?

 

At Alma one of the river locks was right next to the train tracks and close to the road.  Here is a tug that was pulling a barge backwards out of the lock. 

 

MRT Riding Day 10 - 8/10/2026 – Prescott WI to Pepin WI - 45 miles

Today was a big change from the mostly trail riding we have been doing.  We were on Wisconsin State Route 35 all day.  SR 35 follows the river, and Lake Pepin, for the entire length of Wisconsin from Prescott to the Illinois border.  Wisconsin calls SR 35 The Great River Road.  Thankfully, SR 35 had a great wide and mostly smooth shoulder to ride.   The traffic on 35 varied from light to heavy but was mostly in the light side.  Hope that continues as we ride south.  We did encounter our first significant climbs today.  Three of them between 250 and 450 feet.  The weather was nice except for 100% humidity in the morning, letting up just a bit after lunch.  Felt something like swimming!   Navigator Sherri said, “I didn’t know that it could be 100% humidity and not be raining!”

Eat breakfast, ride, drink coffee, ride some more …  Sunrise Coffee Bay City WI – first stop available in 21 miles.

Our route thru Wisconsin on the Great River Road.

Pilot Mark at roadside stop with Lake Pepin in the background.

Lake Pepin, created by a natural damning effect from the in flow of glacial deposits.  Two miles long by two miles wide.  All part of the Mississippi River. 

MRT Riding Day 9 - 8/9/2026 – South St Paul MN to Prescott WI - 26 miles

After a couple of longer days, we took a short day to Prescott.  We were once again surprised by all the great bike paths, several of which were not to be found on Google Maps or Ride with GPS.   A large part of the route was on the Mississippi River Greenway with lots of river views.   We had lunch in Hastings MN and then crossed the Hastings Bridge saying goodbye to Minnesota.  Once in Wisconsin another bike trail took us to the Prescott Bridge, across the St. Croix River where it joins the Mississippi, and into Prescott.

 

The Greenway took us through the Spring Lake Park with lots of sights.  Here is just one of the river views.  

 

The park has a Buffalo refuge. 

Lunch at Hasting.   Our rule: no Coke until we are within 10 miles of our destination!

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.