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Print Friendly MapThe 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 10-mile trail include a 140-foot steel truss bridge and views of the Vermillion River Gorge. The route traverses Vermillion Falls Park, C.P. Adams Park, and Lake Rebecca Park Reserve, offering numerous recreational amenities. The trail also links to Dakota County's Mississippi River Regional Trail, allowing for more two-wheeled travel along the river.
Parking is available in Vermillion Falls Park (215 21 St. E), C.P. Adams Park (1301 18th St. E), and Lake Rebecca Park Reserve (9831 Rebecca Park Trail).
The trail is smooth, with a few challenging inclines. We stopped at the bridge, downtown for lunch at the Confluence hotel. They have a couple yard games out front, and seating for taking in the view. Part of the trail, near the Vermillion entrance is being paved. We’ll go back to complete the loop. .
However, we added an extra 5 miles due to lack of signage. We really enjoyed the ride along the river and levee. We will definately be back in the fall.
We loved this trail! We love the loop as opposed as coming back the same way. HOWEVER, we did have to use the map to stay on the trail as there is inadequate signage. We plan on going back in the fall when the leaves change.
Agree with other reviewers. This is a poorly marked trail. Put some signs up showing where to go! We started downtown and that didn’t work. Maybe if you start at the falls you will have better luck.
Great route just poorly marked
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.
Great trail. Fantastic views. Perfect length for me at around 10 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).
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.
Beautiful trail with river,lakes,swamps and waterfall!!! Has few hills but it is super fun to bike. Asphalt is really well maintained.
Having riden most trails in SE MN we thought we’d give the Vermillion River Regional Greenway a try since we were passing by and we prefer loop trails. TrailLink parking info directed us to Vermillion Falls Park, which was very well kept and had ample parking. The map board at the trailhead entrance was cryptic and offered no indication that there was a contiguous loop trail around Hastings. The first couple miles were well paved and traversed along the edge of the city. Unfortunately, the trail meandered into the city and was poorly marked. We eventually lost any semblance of a bicycle trail and ended up utilizing our phone gps to direct us back to Vermillion Falls Park. Having biked thousands of miles across countless trails throughout the US, this was the first time we’ve had to use gps. While the region offers excellent scenery, until the trail offers better directions we probably will not return.
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