Dakota Rail Trail - A Beautiful Bike Ride

My wife and I were looking to get in some exercise, and decided to take advantage of the new Dakota Rail Trail. What an outstanding ride! We entered on the trailhead at St. Boni where there is ample parking and a nice picnic area.

We had just intended to get in a quick work out, but the day was beautiful, the trail outstanding, and the scenery evoking of too many memories of growing up in Mound that we ended up doing the full 27 mile trip to Wayzata and back.

Best parts about the ride for me:

• Going through Mound and seeing how much that town has changed and cleaned up


• Crossing the Seaton Channel on the same bridge from which I used to jump in my younger days. Ditto the Lafayette bridge.


• Going past the Spring Park A&W where I used to work flipping burgers as a summer job in junior high. The trail goes right past the drive-in and has to be a huge boon for their owner (the same guy that owns it when I worked there!). The place was packed.


• Going past the old Lafayette club; site of many school dances and DU banquets.

There's not much at the Wayzata side for refreshment, which is too bad - after cranking over 13 miles, we could have used a Gatorade. But this really was the only thing that was disappointing.

I will definitely look for opportunities to get a lot more miles in on this beautiful new trail. Well done!