Mission Trails Regional Park

Kathy and I set out early this morning with hopes of finishing our ride before it got too hot. We headed to Mission Trails Regional Park> the morning was a bit overcast which in my opinion is excellent for riding. The marine layer did not last long and within 20 minutes of riding we were full on sun.


Kathy driving us to Mission Trails...

We're ready to ride!

Road leading to the trails...

The idea was to ride to the top of this ridge in hopes of finding the springs we had heard about. Well, enroute to the top we met up with a couple super nice guys who patrol the trails for the park system; they let us know that the military which owns most of the surrounding area would be shooting this morning and advised us to stay off the ridges. Thank you so much we will stay the hell off the ridges as neither one of us can ride fast enough to dodge a bullet. The guys gave us some ideas for alternative routes.

We rode on for a while then took our first left and stopped at the crossroads with three barrels marking the path.

We hung a right at the barrels and started a steady climb upwards over what appeared to me to be a riverbed absent the water. We climbed for quite some time then decided to turn around and check out a different trail. We had ourselves a nice quick descent back to the barrels. We then caught the trail we had started out on and found ourselves once again on a steady upwards climb over a bed of loose rocks and sand. For me this was new, I don't have a lot of experience in riding over river rocks and sand. We did have some hard packed dirt and a lot of fun up and downs.

Kathy climbing to the top... first trail

Hmmm, which way to go...

Kathy almost to the top... Second trail

scenic view along the way

Kathy and I spent several hours exploring the trails, stopping along the way for pictures and video. At one point during our ride we heard the coyotes take down their prey. I don't have any idea what they caught but it scared the hell out of me. I had just passed an area and the next thing I know I heard this blood curdling scream. I immediately stopped as I thought for a second that maybe Kathy had fallen or something. It was pretty spooky.

This was a really fun ride for me and a great chance to experience riding over a bed of loose river rocks and sand, we don't get a lot of that around Minnesota.

I have always loved the desert and know that when I grow old that is where I will retire to.