2023 10 28 - Minnesota Valley NWR - Bloomington MN

Picture: The building, welcome center.

We had never been to any NWR, National Wildlife Refuges, before so we were not sure what to expect. And we were not expecting there to be a special event, so there were staff directing traffic on where people could park here and at nearby businesses.

Close in to the cities so travel does not cut into the walk time.

We won't likely be stopping at this location of the park again. The park covers 14,000 acres and stretches 70 miles along the Minnesota River. It has 45 miles of trails.

The problem with this Bloomington location is that it is up on the bluff. Not a problem if you are young or in shape. We no longer are either.

There are many other access points along the park and we will try one of those in the future.

Here we did go down a few steps hoping we would find a trail along the upper park of the bluff, but we didn't find one so we headed back.

We did walk for about a half hour, looping the trails from the building, the parking lot and the bluff.

There is no fee for trails or parking or permit required.

Picture: Some of the steps ... and the river in the background.