If the weather forecasts are to be believed, we are about to have some rain 😂 (and then maybe a dash of snow ❄) before sunshine returns and temperatures plummet into the abyss of Winter. So we figured we’d better get in another hike before it gets all Minnesota cold out there. 🥶
Carver Park Reserve is less than a half hour west of us. We had overlooked it to date because the hike for it in our venerable 60 Hikes guide (Hike #21) is only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) on a paved trail. Gotta have some dirt. Then a closer look at the park’s trail map showed many more trails than the one given in the guidebook, including a nice dirt/mowed grass loop past Parley Lake and around Lundsten Lake and Lake 2. So that was our goal for today.
We interpreted today’s forecast as sunny, with clouds coming in later in the afternoon. Ah, no. What we got was early teaser sunshine overcome by clouds before 10.30. 🌥🙄 The air temperature hovered around 35℉ (1.6℃) all day but there was no wind, so, even with the clouds, it was very comfortable weather for a hike.
We started from the parking lot at the Fred F. King Memorial. From there, it was clockwise on hiking and horse trails northward past Lundsten and Parley Lakes, eastward along the county line, and then southward past Lake 2 and the King Overlook back to the trailhead.
Our loop came to 7.0 miles (11.2 km), with a cumulative gain of 600 feet (183 m) – all those rolling hills. Except for a few people working on a new mountain bike trail, we only saw one other person on our loop. A little longer stretch of sunshine would have perked the scenery up a bit. Still, thanks to those ancient glaciers, this proved to be a wonderfully varied and rolling countryside through which to walk. 😁
BOOTS on the TRAIL 
Snow? Well, it’s been awhile since we lived in snow country, so we’ll see how it goes. 🙄❄
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I love how the sky meets land and lake in your images, before the grey moved in. Lovely photos. Lovely place to explore. Yes, winter is coming. I see it. I feel it. We desperately need the predicted rain. The snow I’d rather not see.
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