Trail is amazing. The amount of people complaining over a few cracks here and there is ridiculous. Just ride and grow a pair.

I rode this trail from Owen Park in Eau Claire south to the 13 mile marker. The trail starts out with very nice views right along the river. There were some areas at the start where there were intersecting trails that could have better signage showing which trail was the main through trail. After the trail turns away from the river at about the 3 mile marker it travels through some very nice scenic countryside. At this point the asphalt quality starts to decline . There are many cracks that run across the trail. It can be distracting from a peaceful ride to have the clunk-clunk every 50 feet. On a fat tire bike it wouldn’t be as noticeable. I only met one other bike on the trail from the 3 mile mark to the 13 mile marker. It may be due to the trail surface quality. Other than the bumps it is a nice scenic ride.

Interesting trail — even possible to canoe down stream & bike back. However, not for you if snakes bother you! Many snakes on trail! Non-venomous, but a definite ick-factor for some.

Traveled 7 miles from Owen Park in Eau Claire south to the Hwy 85 Wayside. Flat and paved well enough to haul our infant in his Burley Bike trailer without too many bumps, not a lot of people once you get outside Eau Claire. A very enjoyable, extremely easy ride. We took our time and completed this 14 mile out and back in about 3 hours. Apart from the beautiful river and woods, highlights for this section include: - Racy’s coffee at Water street is worth stopping at on your way back, around mile marker 1.5 - Mile 3 you’ll cross the river on an old Union Bridge Co bridge and there’s a historical marker at the end about early settlers and trade. - Almost to mile 6 is a historical marker about the town of Porterville. - At mile marker 6 (exactly) you can spot the famous Silver Mine ski jump. Hwy 85 wayside has a historical marker for it but you can’t see it from there.

It’s great views of lakes and marshland in Wisconsin. In winter, you can see ice fishers and wildlife in the trees. I recommend using walking poles in the winter for the snow. Highly recommend!

I have done both sections of the trail several times. For the So. St. Paul to Pine Bend Trail End I like to start at Simon's Ravine because their are usually parking spots available. This section is a good day's ride for me and it is very interesting because of the mix of river and woods trails with fun street trails.

For the Hastings section I like to start at the Lower Spring Lake Park Reserve Trailhead. It is a huge parking lot and it is where the Hastings section starts. It is about 4 miles of beautiful trail and it runs through Schaar's Bluff. Then it is around 7 miles from there to Hastings. It is a good mix of open country, woods, and street trails. I love where the trail drops through a hillside settlement on to a levee going across the Mississippi then along the locks into the city. There are many great places to eat and drink close to the trail.

This is a beautiful trail and I can't wait for the Pine Bend section to be connected to the Lower Spring Lake Park section. That would make it world class!

I parked in front of the MN Zephyr and hopped on the trail on a Sunday afternoon in mid-September. It was a sunny day, so people were out in droves. That was the ONLY drawback to this ride, as I could never really gain momentum having to stop often for pedestrians, often small children. But it was stunning! The slow climb was hardly noticed on my road bike. Where hills exist, they level out quickly. I joined the Gateway trail at the 7 mile mark and went northeast to Pine Park. Stopping at the Trail Side for a lemonade was enjoyable. It’s a nice 21 mile ride round trip trek!

We parked at Brown’s Creek Park 8312 Neal Ave N, Stillwater to bike into downtown Stillwater but as we were preparing our bikes we got word of a Trump parade in Stillwater ¿¿ so we headed west instead toward Grant, MN and then NE for 4 miles to Pine Point Regional Park. On our way back we stopped at the cutest Beer Garden at Gasthaus Bavarian for a beer and pretzels and see the goats and chickens. Total trip was about 15 miles.

The trail is very nice - lots of variety of scenery. In town, neighborhoods, but also parks, prairie, river, ponds, and woods. There’s also lots of little fun detours. Makes for a nice leisurely ride. The trail is not marked particularly well, but it is t as bad as the other reviewer indicates. We used this app to stay on course (or get back on course if we Took a detour).