Snow on the River (Minnesota Valley NWR) 20-Dec-2022

After a day of snow flurries, bright sunshine returned. Warmth, however, did not. Today dawned at a brisk -2℉ (-17.2℃). But that’s trivial compared to what’s coming tomorrow through Christmas Day. Forget the Arctic Blast. A Storm-a-Geddon is inbound with heavy snow, strong winds, and more of our already brisk temperatures. As luck would have it, we’ll be heading East to spend Christmas with family before (hopefully) this storm hits. 😏

But there was time for one more short, sunny, cold hike before we go East. We decided to do a walk in the Bloomington Ferry Unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), starting from the parking lot at the end of Crest Avenue.

A floating ferry used to cross the Minnesota River here between 1849 and 1889. It was superseded by two bridges before today’s pedestrian/bicycle bridge (the Bloomington Ferry Trail Bridge) opened in 1998. We walked across that bridge to get a view of the frozen Minnesota River and then walked out beside the river on the River Bottoms Trail and then back on that trail and a bicycle trail.

So, another short hike (3 miles/4.8 km) in full sunshine but at 0℉ (-17.7℃). Fortunately, there was only a faint breeze so windchill wasn’t an issue today. After lunch at the Northstar Tavern, we went home to pack and reassure Sofie (our cat) that we weren’t abandoning her forever (she can be quite the furry little drama queen when she sees us packing). And with that, we wish you…

MERRY CHRISTMAS
HAPPY HANUKKAH

BACK TO BLOG POSTS