Long Meadow Lake Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · River/Creek · Wildflowers · Wildlife

This trail starts (as a gravel road) from E American Blvd. To access it from the Visitor Center, descend stairs to the Hillside Trail and then go right (southwest) on the Spur Trail to connect with the Long Meadow Lake Trail at the base of the bluff.

This trail is a wide, gravel, doubletrack road that travels through floodplain forest and marshlands, across the outlet from Long Meadow Lake, to the Minnesota River. It then follows along the river's main channel and a slough under the MN Highway 77 Bridge.

In early 2024, the section of the trail between the Highway 77 Bridge and the Minnesota Valley State Trail was in the process of being built out as a paved trail. When this work is done, the paved Valley Trail will extend to a junction with the paved Minnesota River Greenway Trail (which crosses the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge) just south of Highway 77.

You can return: (1) the way you came, (2) continue on to a car shuttle parked at the Lyndale/Sorensen Landing Trailhead, or (3) double back to a car shuttle parked at the Old Cedar Ave Trailhead.

This trail is in a National Wildlife Refuge that attracts thousands of waterfowl annually. Some are seasonal migrants, while others are residents that nest and forage in the refuge's extensive marshlands and forested areas.