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

Riding Day 2 - 8/1/2026 - Bemidji to Walker, MN – 34 miles

 Today the real riding starts!  However, we like to ride shorter distances early on so that we can get used to the touring lifestyle once again.

 

The route from the Bemidji to Walker was all on the paved Paul Bunyan Trail.   Beautiful lakes, river crossings, and many streams.   All the water ways along our route drain into the Mississippi which is wondering around between the lakes just east of us.  We will be following the Mississippi closely in the coming days.   The trail had a few rough spots but in general was wonderful.   Pretty good surface for being this far north.

Beautiful, level, paved trail all the way today. 

 

Riding Day 1 - 7/31/2026 - Bemidji, MN - 12 miles

Bemidji Lake is the farthest northern most part of the Mississippi River.  This is where we are starting our Mississippi River Trail (MRT) bike trip, riding south to St. Louis / St. Charles, MO.   Yesterday we stopped on Itasca State Park, MN to see the Mississippi River headwaters just south of Bemidji.

 

The Mississippi Headwaters at Itasca State Park.  Lots of people swimming at the headwaters - that was unexpected. 

 

Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox at Bemidji

The size of the Mississippi as it exits Bemidji Lake