A Ride on the Bloomington River Bottoms Trail, 15Aug2003

Words and Photographs By Todd Madson (C) 2003 -

The wife was out of town on a junket with her sister and mother and most of my other friends were either out of town on vacation or up north so I decided to take a ride on the River Bottoms trail after work.

This trail is located in Bloomington, Minnesota - about 25 miles south of downtown Minneapolis.

This was the trail that really made me fall in love with mountain biking in the first place. I rode it first with my hardtail for years and now my new Specialized Epic dual suspension bike which I suppose is a fairly obsessive thing to get but I love it.

To quote Elkman, from Elkman.Net: I used to be a road bike person and thought that most people who bought mountain bikes just bought them to show them off, instead of riding off the road. I never thought that I'd end up on a mountain bike. Now, as if urged by Darth Vader, I've joined the dark side.

Yeah. That's exactly it. I still love road biking but doing the mountain biking thing with a well engineered bike is a magical thing.

The other thing that makes this trail really convenient is that it's about three miles from my home. I can ride right to the trailhead from my doorstep. Some folks have to drive for 50 miles to get to a trail...I could ride it every day if I wanted. I suppose I'm spoiled.

The River Bottoms trail has a little bit of something for everyone. First of all, it's got sections that are easy enough for beginners to ride but isn't boring for the seasoned rider.

It's also got sections that are technical, sections with medium to large sized log crossings, unexpected descents and ascents, an actual Huck Finn-style raft where you can do a hand-powered crossing of Nine Mile Creek!

The raft is semi-permanently moored to both sides of the creek. Then there is a center rope that allows you to pull the raft in either direction until you're at either shore.

In years past we had to clamber down the sometimes-muddy banks of the creek and come perilously close to falling into the water. This year, MORC (Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists) added surprisingly functional stairs to each end.

The trick is to keep your balance while holding onto your bike and pulling the rope and entering and exiting the raft without getting soaked to the skin by falling in the creek (with a bike too I suppose).

Believe me, you don't want to see your multi-thousand dollar bike sink into Nine Mile creek (which connects directly to the river not far away).

There's also lots of wildlife - deer, squirrels, birds of many kinds, frogs, toads, snakes, rabbits, among others. You may be surprised at what you see.

On weekends, this trail can be quite popular. On weekdays before the average joe gets home from work it can be utterly deserted. On tonight's ride I saw one rider heading my direction and another heading back until just about the end when I saw a group ride with six or seven riders heading out as I was packing it in.

All told I did about 18 miles tonight. It was great. Both Bike and Mountain Bike magazine has profiled this trail and most people think of Minnesota as frigid and snow covered year round but that's not the case. This trail is also great in the fall and early winter months (if it's a mild winter) as well.

If you visit Minnesota you owe it to yourself to try this trail.

Click a thumbnail for a full-sized picture.

10-RopeRepose.JPG	09-TheRaft2NextUp.JPG	08-TheRaft1.JPG
07-OnandOn.JPG	06-IdyllicScene.JPG	05-LogObstacles.JPG
04-DeepDistance.JPG	03-Erosion.JPG	38-SteeperThanItLooks.JPG
37-ThoseMorcFolks.JPG	36-NorthToTheEnd.JPG	35-Riverview.JPG
34-HeadingNorthNow.JPG	26-SmallLogPile.JPG	25-TweenTwoTrees.JPG
24-DifferentDirections.JPG	23-Intersections.JPG	22-RiverViewTrail.JPG
21-RiverBarge.JPG	20-FallenTrees.JPG	19-ALittleTechnical.JPG
02-Singletrack.JPG	01-TrailEntrance.JPG	00-YourHost01.JPG
18-WestLakeViewVert.JPG	17-WesternLakeView.JPG	16-FollowTheSun.JPG
15-AlmostDeserted.JPG	14-WestwardHo.JPG	13-Westward.JPG
12-TheOtherSideView.JPG	12-CreekView2.JPG	11-CreekView.JPG
33-OpenSpaceUnderTrees.JPG	32-SteepAngleDescent.JPG	31-SunGoingDownSoon.JPG
30-IntoAMeadow.JPG	29-RailroadBridge.JPG	28-DyslexicBridge.JPG
27-SteepDescent.JPG

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