Hike 27 - Bush Lake Loop

I’ve lost track of how many weeks and days we’ve been mostly at home due to COVID-19. We’ve gone out for essentials such as groceries and have taken many walks around the neighborhood, but have mostly been trying to stay safe at home. However, now that the weather is a bit nicer, it’s hard not to want to get out of the house. We live in a first ring suburb of a major city so it sometimes takes some planning to figure out where to go to avoid the crowds. Honestly, this isn’t that different from pre-COVID life as we like to avoid groups of people, but it seems especially important now.

On this particular day, we didn’t want to drive too far, but wanted to find a place that wasn’t overrun with people who had the same idea to get outside and I think we succeeded. We like to head out early in the day and I think that seems to help with the crowds as well.

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Hike #: 27

Trail: Bush lake Loop

Location: Bloomington, MN

Trail surface: paved

Date: April 25th, 2020


Jo: ★★★

Jesse: ★★

Riley: ★★★


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We’d walked an adjacent trail a year or so ago which we liked, but were frustrated with as we got lost. Since then I use my AllTrails app to make sure we are following the trail that we want to. It’s made a huge difference as some of these trails can be a little confusing (especially when there are a series of trails you can take).

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This trail went partly through fields, around the lake, and through a neighborhood. We’d been looking to walk a little further as a lot of these hikes have been around the 2 mile mark so this 4 miler seemed like a good idea. I’d rather have a nature trail, but it was sort of nice to see a different neighborhood and admire the houses (we are looking to remodel so we are hyper alert to house designs).

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While this might have felt a little long for Riley, she did fine and it was nice to find a trail that was close to home. I’ve said it before, but I’ll note it again… I love Minnesota for all the parks and trails that are maintained . It really makes a difference in our quality of life.

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Hike - 15 - Big Willow Park

I’ve driven past these ballparks in Minnetonka so many times and had no idea that there were a bunch of trails behind them until my neighbor mentioned that it was a favorite place of hers. I finally gathered up my family one day after an especially lazy morning and we headed over to check it out.

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Hike #: 15

Trail: Big Willow Park

Location: Minnetonka, MN

Trail surface: Crushed rock, dirt

Date: 9/30/18

Big Willow really was a huge surprise. I expected paved trails around the sports field, and that’s about it, but in reality it was like walking in the forest along a creek bed. There were a number of short off shoot trails that brought you back to the main trail as well which was nice.

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Perhaps because our expectations were low we ended up all really liking this trail, but I think it’s a great near the city trail. It was clean, and near our house which is a bonus, but we’ve found that we tend to like trails that feel more like you are in the middle of the woods and this one fit that very much.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Riley: ★★★★

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