Find the top rated trails in Maplewood, whether you're looking an easy walking path or a long bike trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The St. Paul Grand Round is a 26-mile route encircling Minnesota's capital. The loop was designed by Horace Cleveland, the landscape architect who also designed the Grand Rounds in neighboring...
Harriet Island Regional Park offers a beautiful recreational space along the Mississippi River in St. Paul, just across the river from downtown. A paved trail runs the length of the park spanning just...
As of spring 2016, bridge access to the Minnesota Valley State Trail was still closed at Memorial Park in Shako-pee until further notice. Check the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website...
At the heart of Minneapolis’ world class trail system in the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, a series of interconnected parks and parkways that loop around the city, acting as a key connector to the entire...
The Trout Brook Regional Trail offers nearly 2 miles of paved pathway in the northern suburbs of St. Paul. It's comprised of two disconnected sections with a short gap in the middle. The northern...
The Bassett Creek Regional Trail is envisioned as an important connector between French Regional Park and Theodore Wirth Regional Park through the cities of Plymouth, New Hope, Crystal and Golden...
Beginning at the southern tip of the Crow-Hassan Park Reserve in Hanover, the Lake Independence Regional Trail spends most of its 15.9-mile span paralleling County Road 19, cutting a straight path...
The Kenilworth Trail runs through dense forest along the eastern side of Minnesota's Cedar Lake. Occasionally, trail users can catch glimpses of some of the stately residences in the ritzy Minneapolis...
Although only stretching a half mile, the paved Red Wing Riverfront Trail, which opened in 2016, offers an important connection between two parks along the Mississippi River in the charming community...
The mighty Mississippi and Minnesota River are the two waterways connected by the River to River Greenway. (The project was formerly known by the less colorful moniker North Urban Regional Trail.)...
The 5.9-mile Brown’s Creek State Trail, which opened in October 2014, is the latest addition to Minnesota’s extensive trail system. The rail-trail stretches from the St. Croix riverfront town of...
Although only 1 mile long, the Dinkytown Greenway provides an important link in a biking network connecting Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The trail begins near TCF Bank Stadium and runs through the...
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Shingle Creek Regional Trail branches out of the Rush Creek Regional Trail at Noble Parkway and tracks alongside the road heading south from Brooklyn Park through Brooklyn Center. Passing through...
The Straight River Trail forms a backwards L as it runs north-south through Faribault and then curves west. The paved trail begins at the Cannon River Reservoir, then travels through woodlands in Two...
A quintessential part of St. Paul's extensive trails system, the Samuel H. Morgan Regional Trail offers a variety of sights and sounds along its nine-mile path, from gorgeous views of the Mississippi...
The Great Northern Trail offers a paved north-south route across the city of Elk River on the fringe of the northwestern outskirts of Minneapolis. For nearly 5 miles, the rail-trail winds through the...
Opened in the summer of 2017, the Point Douglas Regional Trail offers a picturesque link along the Mississippi River between Prescott, WI, and Hastings, MN, on a former railroad called the Peanut...
The Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Regional Trail runs southwest from the Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins to Carver Bluffs Parkway and Carver Creek Circle. The trail is over 19 miles in length and occupies...
Nokomis-Minnesota River Regional Trail contributes 7 miles to the Twin Cities’ extensive network of regional trails. The paved path is 10-foot wide, providing room for a variety of trail users...
Medicine Lake Regional Trail offers a plethora of experiences along its nearly 16-mile length. Kicking off in the Elm Creek Park Reserve in the north, the trail cuts a swath through the Maple Grove...
The Sunrise Prairie Trail runs north-south atop an unused right-of-way along a Burlington Northern Railroad corridor, traversing residential neighborhoods in the towns and mostly farmland in its...
The trail is named in honor of Bruce Frank Vento, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 until his death in 2000, representing Minnesota’s fourth congressional district. Vento is...
The Vermillion River Regional Greenway offers a beautiful, paved loop in the riverfront city of Hastings, which lies on the banks of the Mississippi in southeastern Minnesota. Highlights of the...
The 47-mile Gandy Dancer State Trail: Southern Section, between St. Croix Falls and Danbury, commemorates gandy dancers, those hardworking section crews who manually restored the railroad tracks in...
Crystal Lake Regional Trail connects two cities—Robbinsdale and Crystal—in the northwestern suburbs of Minneapolis. It also links to the Twin Lakes Regional Trail and the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway,...
The Interlink Trail connects the southern end of Wisconsin’s portion of the 47-mile Gandy Dancer Trail with Interstate Park in St. Croix Falls. Along the way, the Polk County Information Center offers...
The Bassett Creek Regional Trail is envisioned as an important connector between French Regional Park and Theodore Wirth Regional Park through the cities of Plymouth, New Hope, Crystal and Golden...
At the heart of Minneapolis’ world class trail system in the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, a series of interconnected parks and parkways that loop around the city, acting as a key connector to the entire...
The Gateway State Trail is an 18.3-mile-long pathway that offers an urban link to the countryside. The western end of this paved trail begins on the north end of Saint Paul and heads northeast through...
Nokomis-Minnesota River Regional Trail contributes 7 miles to the Twin Cities’ extensive network of regional trails. The paved path is 10-foot wide, providing room for a variety of trail users...
Minnehaha Trail connects two popular parks in the Twin Cities as it follows the course of the Mississippi River through a corridor that is a mix of woodland and open areas. At the trail’s southern...
The Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Regional Trail runs southwest from the Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins to Carver Bluffs Parkway and Carver Creek Circle. The trail is over 19 miles in length and occupies...
Medicine Lake Regional Trail offers a plethora of experiences along its nearly 16-mile length. Kicking off in the Elm Creek Park Reserve in the north, the trail cuts a swath through the Maple Grove...
The Cedar Lake Light Rail Transit (LRT) Regional Trail is an integral component of Hennepin County’s extensive trail network, in which rail-trails feature prominently. The trail directly links four...
This trail is so nice they named it twice: Sakatah is the Dakota word for “singing hills.” The Dakota people of the Great Sioux Nation originally lived in this scenic part of Minnesota, where the Big...
Unlike its name would suggest, Nine Mile Creek is actually 15 miles from its headwaters at Minnetog Lake to the Minnesota River. This regional trail was constructed to meander alongside the creek as...
The Cannon Valley Trail, which became a National Recreation Trail in 2018, links the southeastern Minnesota communities of Red Wing, Welch, and Cannon Falls along the former route of the Chicago Great...
As of spring 2016, bridge access to the Minnesota Valley State Trail was still closed at Memorial Park in Shako-pee until further notice. Check the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website...
The Stower Seven Lakes State Trail runs for nearly 14 miles along an old railroad corridor between Amery and Dresser, passing through the towns of Deronda, Wanderoos and Nye. In Amery, the trail...
The Elm Creek Park Reserve is an outdoor lovers’ dream. At 4,900 acres, it’s the largest park in Hennepin County. The park provides enough amenities to keep people coming all year round. Cyclists...
The Vermillion River Regional Greenway offers a beautiful, paved loop in the riverfront city of Hastings, which lies on the banks of the Mississippi in southeastern Minnesota. Highlights of the...
Minnesota’s Hiawatha LRT Trail runs along a north-south route paralleling both Hiawatha Avenue and the Metro Transit Blue Line in Minneapolis. The trail connects downtown Minneapolis and the vibrant...
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This Mississippi River Regional Trail running through eastern Dakota County is a segment of a larger regional trail system that is itself part of the National Park Service’s Mississippi National River...
A segment of the Minnesota River Greenway, spanning just shy of 4 miles, opened in June 2017. The paved trail traces the southern bank of the Minnesota River in Burnsville. A good place to begin your...
Nokomis-Minnesota River Regional Trail contributes 7 miles to the Twin Cities’ extensive network of regional trails. The paved path is 10-foot wide, providing room for a variety of trail users...
At the heart of Minneapolis’ world class trail system in the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, a series of interconnected parks and parkways that loop around the city, acting as a key connector to the entire...
Opened in the summer of 2017, the Point Douglas Regional Trail offers a picturesque link along the Mississippi River between Prescott, WI, and Hastings, MN, on a former railroad called the Peanut...
The trail is named in honor of Bruce Frank Vento, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 until his death in 2000, representing Minnesota’s fourth congressional district. Vento is...
Highway 96 Regional Trail parallels the roadway of the same name. The trail crosses Ramsey county, traveling west from White Bear Lake to New Brighton. The scenery alternates between residential and...
The developing Swedish Immigrant Trail will one day span 22 miles from Taylors Falls on the banks of the St. Croix River to the central Minnesota town of Wyoming. The paved trail will run east-west...
The Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Regional Trail runs southwest from the Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins to Carver Bluffs Parkway and Carver Creek Circle. The trail is over 19 miles in length and occupies...
The Bassett Creek Regional Trail is envisioned as an important connector between French Regional Park and Theodore Wirth Regional Park through the cities of Plymouth, New Hope, Crystal and Golden...
The Wildwood Trail follows a former railroad right-of-way once owned by the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company. The trail runs between Woodville and Spring Valley and is open to...
Medicine Lake Regional Trail offers a plethora of experiences along its nearly 16-mile length. Kicking off in the Elm Creek Park Reserve in the north, the trail cuts a swath through the Maple Grove...
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The 5.5-mile Midtown Greenway follows a former railroad corridor through the heart of south Minneapolis, heading due west from the Mississippi River to the neighborhood of West Calhoun in the scenic...
The 47-mile Gandy Dancer State Trail: Southern Section, between St. Croix Falls and Danbury, commemorates gandy dancers, those hardworking section crews who manually restored the railroad tracks in...
The Lake Minnetonka LRT Regional Trail begins in the vicinity of Eighth Avenue North in downtown Hopkins, just a few blocks north of the eastern endpoint of the Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Regional...
The St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail is a 1.8-mile loop along the Minneapolis riverfront within the St. Anthony Falls National Register Historic District. Maps, finding aids, and the area’s...
The mighty Mississippi and Minnesota River are the two waterways connected by the River to River Greenway. (The project was formerly known by the less colorful moniker North Urban Regional Trail.)...
The Straight River Trail forms a backwards L as it runs north-south through Faribault and then curves west. The paved trail begins at the Cannon River Reservoir, then travels through woodlands in Two...
We've ridden this trail at least once a year and it's a local favorite. It connects with the Gateway Trail and follows the creek down to Stillwater. Its popular with the locals and well as tourists. There's no parking in the western start of the trail, so I would recommend parking at the Pine Point trailhead (tons of parking, water and bathrooms). There is a tiny parking lot off of Highway 96, but it's almost always full on weekends, even early in the morning.
If you start at the western trailhead off of the Gateway, the trip to Stillwater is downhill, but you really don't notice it too much, even the trip back is pleasant. There are a few places where you traverse a local golf course but the majority of the trail is through some lovely wooded areas. I've almost ridden off into the trees because I've been gawking at the beautiful scenery!
You can continue to explore Stillwater at the trail's end, or head north to William O'Brien State Park and the lovely river towns of Marine on St. Croix and Copas. It's a great little trail!
We started at the Petro Truck stop just off of Hwy 52 and 117th Street. Upon finishing our ride, we determined that there is a nice trailhead, appears to be just north of this truck stop. We used the truck stop and headed out on the trail just out of the south end of the parking lot.
Overall the trail was in great condition and well marked. The only spot that we did not see any marking was at the intersection of Cahill and Concord Boulevard. We continued north and went up into the neighborhoods of Inver Grove Heights - also a nice continuance of the trail. One of the riders in our party did head "east" along Concord down to the Swing Bridge Park. This was also a great section of trail, challenge is that you are going down hill to the river, so the return means that is UP hill from the river. Manageable but a good climb.
I will be back again to ride further into St Paul via the trail!
Surprised by the rave reviews on here. I rode this trail recently for the first time in several years. Like many of our Twin Cities trail, it is amazing in potential and horrible in reality. These trails are worthless if not maintained correctly. I will not ride this trail again with my road bike until it is patched or resurfaced. Probably great for mountain bikes, but a little tender loving care would make it amazing for everyone.
Rode from Webster to halfway to danbury, uphill... No wind, high temps, high humidity. Lots of black flies. Couldn't stop for bugs would have a field day enjoying my sweat. Bailed on a side road. Started again at Luck and hoping to have better downhill luck, went to Milltown. Much better as it was not uphill, but still had limited shade. Sag wagon/re-supply husband couldn't find TH asked locals "where is the gandy dancer bike trail head" and no-one knew. Probably should have asked where the snowmobile trail was...maybe in better conditions would I try again. Or use my time on others trails.
Rush line bus project 2018. No more Bruce Vento trail!
This was a very nice trail to bike on. It’s separated most of the way from the walking trail which is nice as I found a lot of people running/walking which would have crowded the trail if it was combined all the way around. There are plenty of different parking places located around the lake for easy access to the trail. Shading around the lake so you aren’t always riding in the sun.
This is wonderful trail with some incredible views of the two largest metro lakes, Minnetonka and Waconia. Plenty of stopping points along the way for photo opportunities or a bite to eat or drink, including a couple of craft breweries, a drive-in that features homemade rootbeer, and several bistros. I'd like to give the Dakota trail 5 stars, but it lacks a safe, connecting trail from the north side of the lake into the city of Waconia. Also, it would be awesome if this trail could someday branch off to Victoria to connect with the Lake Minnetonka Regional Trail.
This trail has been newly surfaced, so it is a nice smooth ride. It's not very busy so it is a good place to go for a family ride with younger children. However, there is nothing to see. If you get bored easily, this might not be the best trail for you. It is still worth doing once.
In follow up to my review about a road crossing issue, I contacted CVT staff and they reached out to the city of Red Wing and the response from the public works department was basically, no it was not a detour issue, but rather a standing pattern as several factories in town all end work between 3 and 330. So if you intend to go into Red Wing from the west or come out of Red Wing from the east, be forewarned and plan to do so before 3 or after 330. I did then again contact CVT to suggest that maybe this should be an advisory on their website so you could check and see if they've posted something.
Except for this, it's a great trail.
Normally this is a really wonderful trail, a real nature bath, and it was for 8 miles today. We were out on the trail today heading from Welch to Red Wing - beautiful as usual - until we got close to Red Wing - I don't know the name of the street we were trying to cross but is is being used as a vehicle detour for another road that apparently is closed or has some issue. Basically, it was impossible to cross - there was continuous traffic and the trail crossing does not have a cross walk - I don't know if there are signs for the vehicles cautioning for the trail crossing but we waited about 5 minutes and not one vehicle showed even the slightest sign of recognition of the trail crossing. We wound up just turning around as we were not about to put ourselves into oblivious traffic. It seems that whoever designed the detour did not take the trail crossing into account. Very disappointing as we were hoping to reach the end of the CVT and hook up with the Hay Creek Trail. The fact that there is no cross walk suggests that it might normally be a low traffic crossing, clearly not the case today - this was about 3:15 PM, not even rush hour yet. I did send an email to the CVT organization and asked if there was something they could do or to contact the powers that be in Red Wing to make this a safer situation. While this is most likely a temporary situation, the time frame is not obvious, and the crossing needs to be safer now.
We had to do a 25 mile ride for our son's Merit Badge. And this trail was perfect. Lots of great shade on a hot day, beautiful scenery, birds, and even a turtle. There are a few hills but not anything hard.
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