Amazing smooth ride where the trail has been resurfaced. West of Mound to the Carver cty line. As I live by this trail I ride it alot. Usually from Mound to Meyer. Nice surfaced ride with changing scenery.

Great views of meadows and water. Lots of delightful benches. A great swimming pool/lake to take a dip and buy some ice cream in the summer. Coming from the south I took the Medicine Lake Regional to get here and the the Rice Lake local trails out. These trails added some nice distance (though not as perfectly smooth) to the 20 without ever biking on a street.

The day I went, it was not ridable west of Chaska.

We road out-and-back from the Masonic West Riverside Park campground in Hutchinson to Silver Lake which is approximately 20 miles round trip. The trail is fully paved in this section . It is a combination of shade and full sun as the trail meanders through cornfields.

The trail could use a little maintenance in certain sections. There were tree roots and wide cracks across the path but overall the trail in this segment was pretty good. It felt like a slight uphill grade to Silver Lake so we enjoyed a bit of a downhill back into Hutchinson. A few benches along the way but no other amenities except for Hutchinson.

Hutchinson has a number of parks along the trail with benches and sculptures which are very nice. I would recommend this trail.

This trail seems to be a patchwork of different park and city trails that were stitched together to make a loop around the city of Hastings. Consequently it's very difficult to stay on the trail. I don't have a handlebar holder for my phone, so had to keep stopping to check my phone and find which way to go. There were many instances when the trail suddenly crossed the road or reached a fork with no indication of which path to take to stay on the loop.

Additionally, at many points along the path the asphalt is in poor shape with large cracks and weeds coming up. Trees and brush along the trail haven't been trimmed so you'll need to beware low hanging branches. The sections that go through the residential areas cross many roads where you'll need to yield to traffic.

On the plus side, there are some interesting sites along the way, including a lock and dam, a beautiful city park along the Mississippi and a path running along a steep river gorge.

Better trail markers would have increased my rating to 3 or 4 stars.

We enjoyed our ride on the Cannon Valley Trail. Small fissures are clearly marked and are to be expected since maintenance depends on volunteers. Only wish underbrush could be cleared where the trail wends close to the river for better river views. We road round trip from Cannon Falls to Red Wing.

I enjoy this trail.

We parked at the trailhead parking lot on Lime Valley Road in Mankato. If you use the address 193 Lime Valley Road you’ll find the trailhead. We cycled to Madison Lake before turning around. We have hybrid bicycles. Total round trip about 19 miles.

The trail is under a canopy of trees for the most part with the first two miles or so being heavily shaded. This is quite a change for us who spend most of our time in the desert southwest! There has been recent trail work in the first mile. Two or three very, very small sections of the trail were being repaired and waiting to be repaved. We’re talking maybe a couple of 50’ sections now on dirt but very passable. There was one road crossing where the actual road (not the trail) was being resurfaced so you had to walk your bike across the street. Overall, the surface of the trail was pretty good. There were a couple of spots where there were cracks across the entire trail but was manageable. As a previous reviewer mentioned, there are no trail markers on this trail so the bike odometer comes in handy. No amenities on the trail. There were a couple of new housing developments springing up alongside the trail so you find locals walking or jogging in those areas. I would recommend this segment of the trail.

We’ve taken this many times, just didn’t know it was named. It’s not very busy and plenty wide enough if you come upon another biker or walker.