Reservoir Woods Park, St. Paul, Minnesota

Even if you live in a city, you can probably find a trail to reconnect with nature. This trail is very close to St. Paul, Minnesota’s capitol city. Larpenteur Avenue is the border. The city seems far away once you are just a few steps in from the parking lot. If you have dogs, let them run free in one of the two off leash areas. Both are right next to the parking lot on Larpenteur Avenue.

map of route with loop through Reservoir Woods Park — This route was 3.37 miles (5.42km)

large tree — Walking north on Victoria Street, we noticed a dirt path going back into the woods and decided to try it. Seemed well established and used by lots of people walking their dogs. This tree impressed me. Looks like many individual trees grown together. This photo was taken in April, that is why there is so little vegetation.

dirt trail, short grass, fork in the path — Another April photo. Grass was just starting to come back. That building is some kind of huge water utility structure. We rejoined the paved path on the other side of this hill. Take the left fork.

trail map with loop east of Dale St. — This was today’s route. 3.22 miles (5.18km) There is no parking lot on Victoria Street, just space for two or three cars on the side of the road.

I thought that if I stood there long enough, the deer would move and I would have exciting wildlife footage. They outlasted me. On the way back I saw the same deer family again. This time they did cross my path, but they were further away.