If you are deciding to opt-outside this holiday season here’s one idea:

Old Cedar Bridge in Bloomington MN

If you’ve never explored the River Bottoms in Bloomington MN I highly recommend it. I managed to convince a few families and some extra neighbors to come explore it with us. It’s an easy walk with many trails for hiking, biking and exploring. It also connects to many trails in the area. We went on a cloudy damp day and still had tons of fun. Scroll down to see what we found!

LOCATION: Bloomington MN

TYPE: Hiking/Biking

DIFFICULTY: Easy/Moderate

The trail we took brought us all the way to the Mighty Mississippi.

Miles of shore to explore in both directions.

My son found climbing trees more fun.

My artist and mess maker loved the clay soil for writing her name. I would recommend wearing boots for this hike. We found that out the hard way.

So many fallen trees for hours of exploration.

Look at all the happy faces.

Easy paths to follow.

My kids telling me how much fun they were having with smiling faces.

So how did we get here? We parked at the trailhead in Bloomington and parked at the Old Cedar Bridge parking lot. You can see this bridge from HWY 77. We followed the trail to the pedestrian bridge that goes under the freeway. Who knew??!! I have traveled over this bridge hundreds of times and never knew there were tails under it! This blog has a few resources showing where the trails are and where to park.

Bikes and pedestrians only. Makes it really nice for bringing kids end not having to worry about extra traffic from vehicles.

The kids loved running up the ramps. If you need a stroller its also easy to navigate this part of the trail system.

Tons of wildlife to keep your eyes out for. Amazing that we have so many natural wildlife areas so close to us in the cities.

What’s your next adventure? I want to hear all about it!