Adventure North

  Mississippi River, August 28th, 66f/81f Pickerel Lake, September 8th, 46f/54f Prairie transition, September 16th, 61f/ 70f Little Blue Stem, September 16th, 61f/ 70f Biking, September 16th, 61f/70f Mississippi River at the Ford Dam, September 22nd, 57f/82f University of St Thomas, September 22nd, 57f/82f Shepard Road, September 22nd, 57f/82f Mississippi River Bluff, September 22nd, 57f/82f Snake River, September 26th, 61f/72f misty rain Cherokee Park, September 30th, 48f/63f Ironton Minn. October 15, 25f/39f Sagamore Mine lake, October 16th, 25f/36f snowed all morning Snowmobile trail in Ironton, October 16th, 25f/36f Huntington Mine lake, October 17th, 23f/36f Mississippi River bluff, November 5th,  39f/66f Gun Club Lake outlet, November 11th,  21f/37f Minnesota River November 11th,  21f/37f Minnesota River November 28th, 26f/52f Three months of beautiful, cool-weather riding in Minnesota this year. Most of my riding hours were with family on our local mountian bike trails. Mrs. Nor

 One of the many wonderful things about living In St Paul is that we have a State Park in our back yard. (and a National Wildlife Refuge!) And while Tuesday was all freezing rain and snow, Wednesday was sunny and a holiday. It was a perfect, snow covered morning for a walk in the woods.  Fort Snelling State Park, located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, pre-dates Minnesota's statehood by about 40 years. It sits between St Paul and Minneapolis and features in the origin stories of the Dakota people. This has always been a special place. The Minnesota river flows north from Mankato to meet the Mississippi. South of the fort itself, on the other side of the rivers, behind the Sibley house in Mendota is the start of the "river bottoms" trail system that runs 20 miles up stream to Shakopee.  The Minnesota river bottoms is where the now popular fat bikes were developed. These mountain bikes have 4 inch wide tires for floating over soft sand and snow. T