Big Rivers - Best Twin Cities Bike Trail - 2013 Best of MN

The best metro bike trail?  What's your mood? For flat-out gear-bashing, the Minneapolis-Hopkins loop that combines the Cedar Lake, Kenilworth and Southwest LRT trails satisfies our speed rush with few stops and light traffic. For scenery, people-watching and a DQ stop, ride the east metro Gateway Trail, especially when the frogs and blackbirds trill in the spring or during the infinite hues of an autumn morn. But our personal favorite is a sweet little section of the Big Rivers Trail tucked between Mendota and Lilydale, on a bench over the Mississippi River. It's shaded, lightly trafficked, and has great historical and geologic markers. Look up one moment and you'd swear the river was deserted; the next, there's a barge or excursion boat cruising by.