Rough Riding in Minnesota

Elm Creek Park Reserve's trails are the easy riders of off-roading in the Twin Cities Metro area. The 4.6-mile loop described here is a good introduction to off-road riding for the novice or a nice cruise for the more advanced rider. The park's swimming beach can make a visit to Elm Creek even more fun. Terrain is flat to gently rolling with a few short, steep grades to test your climbing ability. The route follows wide, grassy cross-country ski trails with a hardpack track worn in for most of the distance. There is also a block-long stretch of boardwalk crossing a marsh that offers a great view of the tall cattails and Mud Lake. The scenery is a mix of marshland, open area with sumac bushes, and hardwood forest with many maple trees. Near the northern part of the loop you enter a dark tunnel through the maples and ride on the bare earthen floor. There are a few short stretches of black muck in low spots.

Trail Notes

The trails are generally well marked with brown and white mountain bike signs and periodic"you are here" map signs. The paved bike trails (nine miles total) are marked with the same signs; trails where riding is not allowed use these signs with the additional red circle and slash. The red slash is not always easy to see in the forest.

The trails are signed for two-way travel, but these directions are for riding counter-clockwise. From the Visitor Center trailhead, follow the gravel road to the right of the building and make an immediate right onto a grassy off-road trail. Make a sharp right at the bottom of the hill, following signs directing you to the Creek Trail. At 2.3 miles you are dumped out onto a paved bike trail for about ten yards before the off-road trail splits off to the right. At this point you will be on the Lake Trail. At 2.7 miles you will briefly ride on paved trail again before veering right onto the off-road trail.

At an intersection at 2.9 miles both trails are marked for mountain biking. Take the left trail. At 3.1 miles you are again out on a paved bike trail. Stay on it, crossing several roads, until 3.8 miles, where a grassy trail signed for mountain bikes makes a sharp right. If you come to the Hennepin Corridor Trail, a paved bike trail that junctions from the left, you have gone about fifteen yards too far. At 4.4 miles you ride the paved trail again for a tenth of a mile before turning right on an off-road trail; this takes you back to the trailhead parking lot after another tenth of a mile (see map).

Hazards

Trails are well maintained, but fallen trees and branches are always a possibility. There is a significant lip on the boardwalk through the marsh about a quarter-mile from the trailhead. Hikers may be encountered on all trails.

Access

From US 169 turn west on County Road 81. Travel through Osseo and turn right on Territorial Road. After a tenth of a mile turn right into Elm Creek Park Reserve and follow the road three-quarters of a mile to the Visitor Center on the left.

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