2023 03 26 - Root River State Trail - Preston MN

Picture: A map at the 'trailhead,' that shows it is not really the trailhead.

The total trail is called the Root River State Trail, but this branch is also called the Harmony-Preston Valley State Bike Trail. We started at the center of the map by #49.

Picture: This is #49 on the above map. I'm not sure if it is an original railroad building or not.

The lay of the land almost looks like the railroad tracks went into the center of town instead of here at the edge. BUT I was able to find a map that showed where everything used to be. This was a major train area. Roundhouse, depot, mills. But the map does not show any building layed out like this. They are just black boxes on the map, this could have been where the coal and feed warehouse was.

Picture: The trail. Preston is straight ahead.

The parking lot is paved, it is shared by the hotel, a city park and the state trail. The tail is paved and is as flat as the rail bed used to be. We followed it for about a half mile and it follows the river for that far.

Looking at a DNR map, from here in Preston and east, the trail pretty much follows the Root River so there should not be a lot of cross traffic and driveways. From Preston, the trail also goes south to Harmony and north of Preston a branch goes to Fountain. Those two areas do not follow the river.

Between all the walks today we walked over 3 miles.