While we are at Lisa’s family cabin up in Becker County, we try to get some rural biking in. We’ve ridden from the cabin to Lake Park, where my great grandfather, Esten Gjelten, settled in the late 19th century after emigrating from Norway. It is about a 60 mile round trip to the little town, surrounded by farmland and in the apparently constant wind of northwestern Minnesota, near the Red River Valley, where I guess my roots really are.

Last Monday, we decided to load our bikes onto the car and drive over to Fergus Falls to try the Central Lakes Trail, which connects Fergus in the north to Osakis in the south. The 55 mile trail runs from the northwest to the southeast through agricultural land dotted by lakes, many of which seem to have no name. (We pondered the definition of “lake” – and I’ve learned that there is no standard definition, though it is clear that Minnesota has many of them.)

Then yesterday, we kind of spontaneously decided to drive down to Faribault to ride the Sakata Singing Hills State Trail which connects Faribault on the east to Mankato on the west, a total one way distance of 39 miles, and running directly east-west. Both days were beautiful and sunny, though the day on the Central Lakes was hotter.

The two trails have a few things in common: they are both Minnesota State Trails, both rail/trail conversions, both very straight and they are both very flat! But there are differences, as well.

First, the Central Lakes Trail. The day we rode was in the mid-80’s and sunny, and it got pretty hot, as the trail is very exposed. The landscape of north western Minnesota is largely unforested, and while there are often lakes with some trees around them, the trail is pretty open, with lots of corn and bean fields on either side. I wouldn’t say it is a boring landscape, but it might be an acquired taste!

Both trails are asphalt, but the Central Lakes trail surface is starting to deteriorate. There was a long section starting about 5 miles out of Fergus where the asphalt was heavily cracked and had plants, some two feet high, growing up out of the cracks, right in the middle of the trail. In my experience, once there are cracks and plants growing in the surface, the trail is almost beyond repair. It was pretty bumpy over long sections, and felt kind of neglected.

We hardly saw any other bikers on the day we rode, from Fergus Falls to Brandon and back, for a total ride of 60 miles. There are a few very small towns, and not many opportunities to stop for lunch. We saw a sign for a cafe in Brandon, but no one we talked to knew about it or where it was, or if it was still in business. We ended up eating at a gas station (something we’ve done very often!) After we bought pre-made sandwiches from the cooler, someone told us that they actually made sandwiches to order right there, but it was too late. We didn’t even realize that the name of the place was Joe’s Gas and Deli until we left.

We did ride by a newish little purple chapel/shrine that was a tribute to a couple of Purple Heart veterans from the area. It appeared to have been constructed by a family on their land. The building (which was open to the public) had some displays of military memorabilia, but also a refrigerator with cold bottles of water – something we really needed at that point on our return.

Just before coming back into Fergus Falls, a biker pointed out a little sign reading “Continental Divide” – we’d missed it (it is very small) on the way out. I asked him what Continental Divide is this, and he told us that water on the northwest side of the divide runs into the Hudson Bay drainage (the Red River, between North Dakota and Minnesota flows north.) The water on the southeast side of the divide flows into the Mississippi River drainage. It was hard to tell that we were on a divide – we’ve ridden over others, including the eastern continental divide on the C&O Trail in Maryland a couple of years ago. That was far more dramatic than this one.

My final take on the Central Lakes Trail: the trail itself needs work, and unless you love the open prairie, you might find it a little boring, landscape-wise. If you like wide open spaces and prairie flowers, though, this one might be for you. Also, the trail now connects to the Lake Wobegon Trail just outside of St. Cloud. Since we’ve already ridden from our house in St. Paul to St. Cloud (our Headwaters ride in 2020) we can now ride from home to Fergus Falls almost entirely on trails.

“Sakata” is a Dakota word for “Singing Hills” and is the name of a lake and a state park that lie between Faribault and Mankato. Yesterday, we started our ride in Faribault at the east end of the trail (only a 45 minute drive from our house in St. Paul) and rode west for 30 miles, had lunch and returned. The entire trail is just under 40 miles and had we started a little earlier, we could have done the entire trail (out and back, for an 80 mile day.)

While Minnesotans often associate lakes with “up north”, there are plenty of beautiful lakes in southern Minnesota and along the length of this trail including Cannon Lake and Lake Sakata as well as Lake Elysian (“characteristic of heaven or paradise” according to the dictionary) and Madison Lake, as well as other smaller bodies of water. Had we more time, we’d have jumped in one of them yesterday – they looked very inviting.

The trail runs right through Sakata Lake State Park, about 15 miles west of Faribault. Traffic on the trail increased as we entered the park, and there appeared to be lots of campers and picnickers enjoying the setting yesterday.

It is, like Central Lakes, a very flat and very straight trail with only about 100 feet in elevation change, at least over the 30 mile stretch we covered. There are a couple big differences, though. This part of southern Minnesota was once covered with a huge hardwood forest – think Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, near Northfield, which is one of the largest remaining sections of the forest. The Sakata Trail lies between what was once the forest and the prairie – and it remains mostly tree covered and shady, and occasionally so dark I had to take off my sunglasses so I could see.

The trail itself is in very good condition, most having been resurfaced in the last 10 years or so. I don’t think we’ve ever ridden so far on such good asphalt, with almost no cracks at all. It also goes through several towns with dining and service options: Waterville (just west of the park), the town of Elysian and Madison Lake all have good cafes for bikers to rest and replenish. We had a patio lunch at The Landing in Madison Lake, right on the shore and it was delightful.

There was a lot more traffic on this trail than on the Central Lakes – especially as we got closer to Mankato. And another observation: we saw as many e-bikes buzzing along the trail as we did human powered bikes. I have thoughts about that, but will save them for another time.