December 18, 2008: Minnehaha Creek West/Lynnhurst Park Hike (Minnepolis)

Join the hiking group for a hike up along the scenic western portion of Minnehaha Creek from Lynnhurst Park in south Minneapolis. Minnehaha Creek is the only outlet of Lake Minnetonka. The creek winds 22 miles from Gray's Bay on the eastern edge of Lake Minnetonka to the Minnehaha Falls and the Mississippi River. The Dakota name for Minnehaha Creek was "Wakpa Cistinna", meaning "little river." The watershed for the creek covers 181 square miles. Lake Minnetonka was not discovered until in the year 1822 a young drummer boy from Fort Snelling, Joseph Brown, and his young friend, John Snelling, son of the commander, went into the Indian Country down Minnehaha Creek in their canoe. The creek became known as "Brown's Creek" and later the creek was renamed "Minnehaha Creek." Thirty years later, a period of rapid settlement began, and crude boats went up the creek to Lake Minnetonka. Initially, Lynnhurst Park was mostly marsh, and, in the 1880s, formed the northwesterly end of a millpond created by the Richfield Mills dam on Minnehaha Creek at Lyndale Avenue. The millpond was drained before the turn of the century and only a narrow tributary of the creek now runs out of Lake Harriet. Lynnhurst Park was the finishing touch to the Burroughs School neighborhood in the 1920's.

If driving: Take I-35W South out of downtown Minneapolis to the West 46th Street exit. Proceed west (right) on West 46th Street ten blocks to Lyndale Avenue and turn south (leftt) and go four blocks to West 50th Street. Proceed west eight blocks on West 50th Street to the Lynnhurst Park parking lot, just north of the Lynhurst Community Center, and just west of where Minnehaha Parkway, Humboldt Avenue South and West 50th Street come together.

If coming by public transit: Take Metro Transit route(s): 4, 35B, 52B, or 568. The closest bus service point appears to be along West 50th Street. Applicable Metro Transit Map / Bus Schedule information

The group will reconvene after the hike at a nearby restaurant (The Malt Shop, West 50th Street at Bryant Avenue South) for dinner or dessert.

Map of W 50th St At W Minnehaha Pkwy,
hike start point

Minnehaha Creek map

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This page was last updated on October 28, 2008.