The path wasn’t always super well marked, but it’s not as bad as the other reviewer said. This app was VERY helpful in guiding us. Some in town, neighborhoods, prairie, woods, ponds, river - and lots of little detours to take advantage of. A very nice leisurely ride.

The trail has been torn up for the light rail line.

I fairly level ride along the river. Can be a bit on the busy side, especially on the northern end, but still worthwhile. Some stops along the way for water and for scenic overlooks.

Does require a bit of riding on the street, but overall a very nice trail. Couple of good climbs... and a few good brewpubs on the route (plan accordingly).

I am not sure what they are doing with everyone's $5 as both trail heads were a very rough ride. The trail is mostly flat and straight which gets quite boring. Our ride was less than 700ft of elevation for a 50+ mile ride if you go down the Hayward trail as well (which was smoother than the CVT).
The trail was very busy to the point of being a nuisance.

Pros would be a view of the river, few road crossing and the trail is sheltered/shaded for 95% of the ride.

I will not do this ride again, there are too many better rides out there.

I took this trail and was shocked at how bad the conditions of the trail was, especially since I paid $7 to park for the day at Fort Snelling Park. It’s definitely up hill going south to north. I appreciated the way back. Pretty views of the river and at Minnehaha.

I love this trail - the scenery is beautiful when you go in the evening. Sunset is so nice. There’s usually a lot of people on trail - lots of families. It’s a great 3-mile walk.

I rode the full length of the trail and it is all pretty nice. A lot of it is shaded, but there are some sunny areas also. Beautiful scenery including woods, wetlands, farms and small towns. I didn't stop places this time, but I saw nice looking restaurants and ice cream shops for future stops. The first 8 miles from Wayzata has more intersections, some you will likely need to stop/wait at. There's one near the 8 mile marker where the trail turns onto a narrow sidewalk before crossing a busy road. That one was pretty annoying, but the others were only slightly inconvenient. After that, though, the intersections became less frequent and less busy. The western part of the trail (starting in Lester Prairie) was very smooth pavement and there were not many other people. Overall it was a great ride!

Terrific ride for seeing some of the most iconic sites of Minneapolis such as the Stone Arch Bridge and Minnehaha Falls. Because of its popularity, the trail gets very crowded.