Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

Mike and I got out for another "hike" today, this time to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge's Long Meadow area. The MVNWR has many miles of trails along various areas of the Minnesota River - I actually did the Long Meadow Lake trail last September, and we've also done the Louisville Swamp area before. Today we went to the Hogback Ridge trail in the Long Meadow area, about 3-4 miles total.

The trailbead was basically right underneath the main runway for MSP airport.




Part of the trail was flooded. (Apparently today was the crest of the 2010 flooding in St. Paul.)


It was so nice to see some greenery - spring is nigh!




We even got to see two bald eagles!



Here I am, looking pretty...


...while Mike checks his March Madness brackets yet again. :)


Overall, a fun jaunt down to Bloomington. And we're making progress on hitting all of the hikes in our "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles" book...