Walk on the Wild Side: Thursday Night Hikes

Join the hiking group for a hike on Dakota County's "Big Rivers Trail" along the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, on a late 1800's rail bed converted to a hiking/biking/roller blading trail. The trail is built on the rail bed of the Minnesota Central RailRoad, one of Minnesota's oldest railroads. In 1857, the Minnesota Central RailRoad was incorporated by a special act of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature and was an early predecessor of the Milwaukee Road. The Minnesota Central RailRoad was built by Selah Chamberlain (1812-1886), who also was its president, and who also built the Rutland & Burlington RailRoad in Vermont, built parts of the Lake Champlain RailRoad, and engaged in the construction of the Cleveland & Pittsburg RailRoad. In 1865, the Minnesota Central RailRoad became the first railroad to serve the Minneapolis West Side Mill District along the Mississippi River. In 1867, the Milwaukee & St. Paul RailRoad bought the Minnesota Central RailRoad, changed the name of the merged railroad to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul RailRoad in 1874, and later shortened the name of the railroad to the Milwaukee Road.

Directions: Take I-35E from St. Paul across the Mississippi River and exit at Highway 13 (Sibley Memorial Highway). Take Highway 13 east (turn left) about 1/4 mile to the intersection with Lilydale Road and turn south (right) on Lilydale Road. Lilydale Road winds down a steep hill to the St. Paul Yacht Club. Park in the trail parking lot, located off of Lilydale Road, just south of the railroad underpass, before reaching the Yacht Club.

Join the hiking group for a hike along the Trout Brook hiking/biking trail in St. Paul, another "rails to trails" trail development. Trout Brook flows through St. Paul, was a tributary to Phalen Creek, and is the outlet of McCarron Lake in the former Rose Township. John E. McCarron, a farmer who lived beside the lake, was born in 1839, came to Minnesota in 1849, served in the Fourth Minnesota Regiment in the Civil War, and died in St. Paul, in 1897. Trout Brook was named after Edmund Rice's Trout Brook Estate, which was sold to the Northern Pacific in 1883. Edmund Rice (1819-1889) was born at Waitsfield, Vermont, came to Minnesota in 1849, was a lawyer with the firm of Rice, Hollinshead & Becker from 1849 to 1855, was president of the Minnesota & Pacific RailRoad and of the St. Paul & Pacific RailRoad from 1857 to 1872, and died at White Bear Lake. Trout Brook and Phalen Creek, which drains Lake Phalen, joined together, and once formed a wetland at the Mississippi River. The bridging of this wetland was a costly headache for the City of St. Paul in the mid and later Nineteenth Century. Baptist Hill, an unwanted mound of glacial drift 50 feet high, in what is now Mears Park, was carted away to fill this wetland. In 1893, city engineer George Wilson undertook the task of burying the lower reaches of these streams, even though some other segments had been roofed over before this. Wilson's handiwork still exists, distinguished by its Platteville Limestone rubble masonry walls and steel beam ceiling.

Directions:  Take I-35E north out of downtown St. Paul to the Maryland Avenue exit. Go west (left) on Maryland about 1/2 mile to Jackson Street and turn north (right) on Jackson Street. Proceed on Jackson Street approximately 1/2 mile to Arlington Avenue. Turn west (left) on Arlington and go about 1/8th mile and park at the U. S. Post Office Rice Street Station, 40 Arlington Avenue East, parking lot, on the south side of the street.

Join the group for a hike among the butterflies and wildflowers of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis. Theodore Wirth championed an expanded park system during his tenure as Superintendent of Minneapolis Parks from 1906 to 1935. He had a reputation of being a dynamic, progressive, energetic leader who loved flowers, but frequently clashed with Eloise Butler. Wirth Park includes the "Eloise Butler Wild Flower Garden," developed by the school teacher and amateur botanist in 1907, after the Park Board initially turned down her request and she successfully led a citizens’ campaign for the preservation of wild flower areas. After the garden outgrew its original three acre fenced site, and plants were vandalized or stolen, Butler begged for fencing, but Theodore Wirth was busy developing golf links, ski facilities, and a bathhouse in the Park and he brushed her pleas aside. Finally, in 1923, Butler became so determined not to see her life's work so badly treated, she spent $700 dollars of her own money to have the fence constructed. Butler was dumbfounded when Wirth offered to reimburse her for the cost of the fence.

Directions:  Take I-394 West and exit at Penn Avenue, then go south to the Frontage Road. Proceed west and turn north (right) on Theodore Wirth Parkway. Proceed north, following the signs, to the Garden, which will be on the right hand side of the road. There are two parking lots for the garden, one on the bottom of the hill and one on top of the hill by the entrance gate. There is a $1 Minneapolis Park Board parking fee at either lot.

June 2013 Hikes

June 6, 2013: TBD

Listing of Hikes