MSP Inline Skating - MNSkate

The Minnesota Inline Skate Club does a regular Thur skate. They have a Facebook Group and a dedicated web site. I'm a longtime skater with them though it's been hard for me to make skates this year.

MNSkate is a Facebook only Group that does skates most Mondays. It can be hard to figure out their Facebook Group info (this is a Facebook issue, especially on mobile) so I'm excerpting some info here. It's Current as of May 2022.

• MNSkate Google Calendar
• They publish routes on "plotaroute.com" but you need an app to view it
• The 2022 Updates post has details on group plans

Most of their skates start at 6pm. There's often a Facebook post about skates and the calendar also has starting locations.

West St Paul loop: Harriet Island to Kaposia Park and Back (plus River to River option)

The Robert Piram trail connecting Harriet (not an) Island park to Kaposia Landing opens up some great new ride opportunities (plus the River to River greenway ... I think!).

I did a back-and-forth from Paddleford to Kaposia Park / Robert Street last week, but looks like this would be a fun short loop:

There are many ways to traverse West St Paul from Kaposia Park/Thompson County Park back to Harriet (not an) Island park. Some streets probably more interesting than others, but lots of exploration opportunities.

The climb from Kaposia Landing to Kaposia Park through Simon's Ravine is scenic and a fun climb for an intermediate rider or for a novice on an eBike. It would be a solid climb for an inline skater and bit of a chancy descent.

Kaposia park is supposed to connect up with a lot more in years to come:

I think most of the River-to-River Greenway can be done now between trails and city streets so I need to check that out -- comparing the above planning photo to a Google version (below) it's only missing a short connection along Hwy 62! The complete loop would a 14 mile ride with some nice climbs and drops:

I didn't know of the Mendota-Lebanon Hills regional greenway, that would be awesome if it happens but looks still years away.

Minnesota Inline Skate Club (MISC) trails page: Minneapolis and St Paul inline skating trails

The Minnesota Inline Skate Club site has been revised and republished. It's now relatively mobile friendly and uses https. The club is smaller than it was in the 90s, but there's generally a good turnout for the Monday social skates that usually start in May and end in October.

There's a new menu based Trails list. For example- here's the Rush Creek Regional Trail listing. It's a great resource for skaters and cyclists too.

Urban inline - new options from Bohemian Flats to the U of MN

I still miss the Minneapolis Friday Night Skate.

One day, maybe, inline skates will return. I've got maybe 10-20 years of legs left.

In the meantime Minneapolis trails keep getting better. The old skate was close up to Friday night traffic, but soon we might be able to do a trail free version.

Yesterday Ben and I explored the trails from Bohemian flats to Stone Arch bridge, upstream of the trail segment still blocked by the 2014 mudslide repairs (maybe finish this summer?).

That part of the trail is improved but not entirely new. What's new is there's now a sweet connection to the 10th Avenue University of Minnesota foot bridge (Google doesn't show it yet). Nice surface, nice views, no traffic.

if you squint at this panorama on the East Bank U you can see the footbridge to the right. You can also see trails that head up to Dinky Town (mid) and out somewhere far away (left)

For example...

Sure looks like we could string something together with the Cedar Lake trail out to Loring Park.

South Saint Paul Trail

I skated the South Saint Paul Regional Trail on 7/16 with the Minnesota Inline Skate Club (Google Map). The trail surface is broken up beneath the 494 bridge, and a bit south of the old railway bridge I was told it terminated (I didn't get that to that part).