I returned to the Minnesota River trail on the south side and to the east of the Cedar Avenue/Highway 77 bridge. It was cold (around 15 degF) and gray and cloudy, but I enjoyed it. I found the landscape was very accessible and clean because of the lack of snow, the hard frozen ground, and the lightly imprinted trails that off-road cyclists had made throughout the area.
I quickly came across an area of aspen trees where the leaf cover had made a soft place for me to sit and drink water and eat my nuts.
I continued hiking with my binoculars and saw eagles, hawks, geese and some really dirty swans. The wildlife activity was still somewhat muted. In the next two or three weeks though, things will explode as the snow, which fell hard later that night, melts and the temperatures shoot up.
The beavers had felled some very large trees and made a large home for themselves. Around it were smaller muskrat dens.
Funny: as the vegetation grows and the ground gets soft these places will get less and less accessible. That’s why winter is a great time to get in there and enjoy the sights.
pseudoisaac 