My young son and I biked this trail and it was a great ride.

It starts at the old Zephr train site and veers through the hills north of Stillwater.

The trail's incline is super deceptive. We biked about 5-6 miles out and thought we were going pretty slow, but we were slowly going up the hills in the area. On the way back it took us about half the time as we flew down the hills. We barely had to pedal most of it until we got back to the old train site.

During your ride/walk/run, there's plenty of spots to stop to take in the scenery as there's lots of creeks and foliage. The trail felt busy for a Sunday morning, but people are respective. This trail is definitely worth your time.

Great sunshine, lots of greenery providing shade, relatively flat on a smooth surface…. A perfect day and a fantastic ride. I just wish there would have been more views of the water from behind the trees.

Parked by the beach in Brunet State Park, used the flush toilets, and did the short state park loop before heading onto the Old Abe Trail (about 1.4m). Biked from the 0 to the mile 5 marker, turned around, and enjoyed ice cream in Cornell. Excellent paved trail that was mostly shaded and had very few hills. Our 7 and 9yo kids enjoyed it! Beautiful views of the water on the northern parts of our ride. Will definitely be back.

Great walk. A lot of inline skating & bikes, but beautiful weather today for walking.

Great route just poorly marked

One of my fav trails!!! Follows the river, through a wildlife area, ends at a cool bridge with a connection to the Chippewa river trail. Total lack of human noise for most of this trail!!!!! It is in great shape Friday.

We rode the section of the trail from the north side of Chippewa Falls up to Cornell. It's a pleasant, tree-lined ride with ample wildflowers to stop and admire this time of year, including one site with Michigan Lillies. Does with fawns are out in the mornings before it gets too warm. The trail follows Wissota Lake and Old Abe Lake on the way north, so some nice water scenery, and an old abandoned steel truss road bridge borders the trail, but is closed even to bicyclists. A similar bridge on the Great Miami Trail north of Dayton has been painted blue and opened to access by cyclists and the general public. With multi-colored art adorning it, it has earned the moniker "Peace Bridge." Just a thought...
The trail in the north sections of Chippewa Falls appears to have been poured in sections with joints in between that are quite rough, despite being filled periodically with tar. Once out in the country, the 'joint design' goes away the the trail is smooth as glass. Racing back to beat a thunderstorm, we were able to peddle as fast as we wanted without worrying about road hazards.
The town of Cornell is a good destination: food choices plus a park with restrooms and water and the giant leaning tower of pulp wood stacking. Quite remarkable to see it looming before you as you come up the trail! A good day can be had on 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.