Mississippi Gorge Trail

Franklin Avenue Bridge (river mile 851.5) to the Ford Parkway Bridge (river mile 847.8) These are easy, popular, off-road paths on both sides of the river. A continuous loop crossing at the Franklin Avenue Bridge and the Ford Parkway Bridge is about 8 miles. The Lake St. Bridge at river mile 850 is midway in the section if the trip needs to be cut short. While most of the trail follows the river from atop the bluffs, other trails take you through Mississippi Gorge and Minnehaha Regional Park. Trails wind past Minnehaha Falls which were made famous in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, "The Song of Hiawatha." This part of the river demonstrates a river gorge and it is the only place along the entire 2,350 mile length of the Mississippi where a gorge has been dug by the Mighty Mississippi. Near 36th St. on the west side of the river, the Longfellow Community Council, the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board and the National Park Service are partnering to restore a rare mesic Oak Savanna Prairie.