path — Hiking — Jo Davis

We've been to Theodore Wirth Parkway many times before - mostly to the quaking bog and the Eloise Butler Wildflower garden, but this time we decided to hike a trail on the other side of Highway 55 near the golf course to try something different.

Hike #: 10

Trail: Theodore Wirth Parkway

Location: Minneapolis, MN

Trail surface: paved, dirt

Date: 6/10/18

Right away as we get out of the car, we can't figure out which way to go. I pull up the trail map and it appears that there should be a trail where there wasn't. We decide to start walking, pass the Luce Line trail, walk through a foresty area with a buckled paved trail, and find ourselves facing Highway 55 - just where we didn't plan to walk. We debate about walking back to find our planned trail, but instead cross the highway and head over to the bog. It's been about 5 + years since we've walked through the bog so it seemed like a good idea.

But we got lost in the bog too. I'm beginning to think we are hopeless with direction. Here's the thing, though... a bunch of trails have been added for off road biking and the trails were way more overgrown than we've seen them in the past. At one point I stood in the middle of 6 trail heads - I'm still not sure where they all lead. We finally found our trail and it started to all come back, but it was clear that the trail hadn't been as maintained as it once was. We saw a lot of vines that seemed to be taking over trees and bushes, and lots of paved paths that had seen better days. Also, I will note that it might not be a great idea to walk around a bog after a big rain because your shoes might get wet (although Riley loved how the water would shoot up through the floating boardwalk) and the mosquitoes will be out in full force. A little tip - bring bug spray like we did.

Even though lost our way (again) we like this trail. It's really close to our house and has a lot to offer (we'd actually went to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden the month prior). I also read that they had a couple projects they were working on - including getting rid of invasive plants. Plus, it motivated me to sign up for AllTrails so I could download hiking trails and hopefully follow a trail as planned.

Jo: ★★★

Jesse: ★★★

Riley: ★★★