Let’s Go See a Waterfall
Our summer road trip took us to Minnesota to not only check another state off of list, but to visit friends who have a summer home in the Minneapolis suburbs. Occasionally, my friend Betsy and I ride together at home when she’s in town, so it just seemed natural that we’d tour the area from the comfort of our bike saddles.
Betsy suggested a ride along the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway which would take us to the Minnehaha Falls. My husband and I love visiting waterfalls so we jumped at the chance to make it the highlight of our ride.
About the Trail
We rode through neighborhood side streets to the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, a beautiful 51-mile urban trail maintained by Minneapolis Parks and Recreation. Even though the waterfall was the focus of our ride, the trail took us through thickets of trees, past creeks, lakes, and beautiful parks.
We didn’t use Ride with GPS, but the following map and link is the closest route I could find, which starts about three miles west of our actual starting point.
Ride Overview
- • Ride Name: Home to Minnehaha Falls
- • Ride with GPS: Link to turn-by-turn navigation cue sheet
- • Location: Grand Rounds Scenic Byway to Minnehaha Falls
- • Start/Finish: Edina, Minnesota
- • Course Type: out and back
- • Course Surface: paved
- • Bike: Salsa Warbird
- • Distance: 14.03 miles
- • Time: 1:09:13
- • Average Speed: 12.2 MPH
- • Maximum Speed: 20.6 MPH
- • Elevation Gain: 341 feet
- • Elevation Range: 821 to 922 feet
- • Weather: 74° and mostly sunny, climbing to 80°
- • Date of ride: July 28, 2024
- • Course Map:
Fun Pictures From Along the Way
I struggled to keep up as we rode downhill for about a mile to the trail. Once on the trail we tooled along without taking any pictures until we stopped at the falls. Tucked away in an urban park, the Minnehaha Falls was flowing fast, treating us to great photographic opportunities.
Back on the trail, we started our return trip, this time stopping at several places along the way…
Lake Hiawatha with a view of the Minneapolis skyline in the distance…
Map of the 51-mile long Grand Rounds Scenic Byway…
Cottontail on the Trail…
The trail both paralleled streets and cut through parks and had a 10 MPH speed limit…
With about a mile to go, we turned back onto the urban side streets and made our way back uphill to our starting point… happy, slightly tired, and ready for brunch!
Garmin Stats
Post-ride Garmin…
Garmin map and elevation graph…
Final Thoughts on the Ride
This was such a fun, chill ride. It was short and sweet with a really cool natural feature – a waterfall – at the turnaround point. We appreciated the lighter Sunday morning traffic at street crossings and enjoyed stopping by a few points of interest on our return trip. The great weather only added to the enjoyment of our ride.
Questions:
- • Have you been to Minnesota? ~ This was my first visit.
- • Do you have any waterfalls near where you live? ~ Great Falls Park is not too far from where we live, but we rarely visit.
- • Do you stop and relax occasionally to fuel or take pictures, or barrel on through when on a long run or ride? ~ Pictures, always pictures, unless I’m racing!
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What a beautiful water fall! Was the water level particularly high when you visited or is it always so full and fast? I love that you could incorporate this ride in your summer road trip.
We have a few water falls here in Cape Town around Table Mountain. When it rains, they are massive, but during the summer, they become more of a trickle.
Great question! My friend said the water was flowing more heavily than it normally does in late July because they’d gotten quite a bit of rain over the summer.
What beautiful scenery…
Yes yes always pictures.
I LOVE waterfalls!!
Nope, never been to Minnesota.
Waterfalls are pretty awesome and can look so different. My next bike recap will be of a ride around Sioux Falls where the falls are much flatter.
I love how adventurous you both have been with your cycling this year! Where will your next adventure take you?
It’s been a fun year of cycling, that’s for sure! The current plan is a road trip to Miami in January and a road trip along the gulf coast states before heading north to Wyoming next summer.
Im a waterfall fan, so this is extra gorgeous to me!
Thanks for sharing all these great photos! You are always off on the best adventures!
Thanks, Jenn!
Those are beautiful waterfalls! I’ve been to Minnesota twice. The first time was for a race many years ago, and then recently this Summer. I was east of Minneapolis (the airport was about 15 minutes away).
We were lucky that the waterfalls were flowing fast thanks to lots of rain over the summer.