Spring Lake Park Reserve

The other day we rode a new-to-us bike trail, beginning at the west end of the Spring Lake Park Reserve, near Hastings.  

A monarch butterfly on butterfly weed. How appropriate.

This beautiful trail meanders along with a prairie on one side (complete with bison), and the Mississippi River on the other. It was hilly, but fun… and is now one of my new favorite trails. 

Bison and baby bison (calves).

The prairie wild flowers were in full bloom, bountiful, and showing off. That was a perk, as was having the Mississippi River, on the other side of the trail.

Rudbeckia…or Black-eyed Susan.

But the biggest bonus, and surprise, was at the trailhead where we planned to eat our picnic lunch. There is a bison paddock there where eight bison were brought here to live in a very large, penned-in area.

Mother and babe…maybe…all adults together care for the young.

On this day, we were fortunate to see all eight of them, plus four calves, up close sitting right in front of us as we ate our lunch. Locals told us it was unusual to see them so close.

Up close…

The Bison are being reintroduced to this area where they once lived. They seem to draw a lot of interest. We were told when the project started last fall, they acquired eight females, and four of them were pregnant. Several signs offered different interesting facts about bison.

Standing, lying down, walking around…the bison were active.

The bison were all lying down when we first saw them. And then they would get up and move around. They were fun to watch. A couple hours later when we got back from our bike ride, all twelve were gone, and nowhere to be seen.

A bison calf.

The space where they are corralled is a vast prairie land where they can roam, and are often hidden from view. The beginning mile, or so, of the bike trail is along this paddock.

Cone flowers, black-eyed susans, fleabane…

Seeing the bison, and the river, and the wildflowers, created a great impression for our first ride on this trail. The temperatures had cooled off too, with low dew points. It was awesome.

Prairie Clover, with a beautiful butterfly I could not identify.

I took time on our way back to stop and take pictures of the gorgeous flowers. Often there were butterflies or bees on the flowers.

I didn’t identify this flower.

There were so many different species, and colors, shapes and sizes.  I decided to take only a few pictures since I had to keep getting on and off my bike. ๐Ÿ˜‰

A metal Bison sculpture seen along the bike trail. The yard was full of metal art. The artist was identified as Dale Lewis.

This trail is one we will ride again and again, Iโ€™m sure. It will be interesting to see how often we see the bison herd, and to see how the landscape changes throughout the seasons.

Other bison seen along the trail… Metal sculptures: Dale Lewis
So fun to see…
The bison were all gathered in this one corner of the paddock, near the trailhead.

10 thoughts on “Spring Lake Park Reserve”

  1. Fabulous! We barely saw them far away when we were there. I’m so glad you had such a lovely day to ride and picnic!

    1. Thanks.
      I hope the next time you go looking for them you see the bison. It’s so hit and miss.

  2. Canโ€™t believe how close you were able to get to the bison! Great shots of them. Spring Lake Park Reserve is really a beautiful place.

    1. We were surprised to even see the bison when we arrived at the trailhead.
      We saw a glimpse of one’s tail swishing a long way off the first time we went to see them.
      I’m glad we decided to go back to bike on the trail.

  3. Valerie, what a wonderful post!! I loved that you said the prairie wild flowers were showing off! Lovely word picture. I am going to forward this to Karen. She will love this blog post. You are not just a great writer, you are also a great photographer. Thanks for sharing!

    1. Thank you Sheri.
      It could be another day trip for you and Jack, but the chances of seeing bison are hit and miss.

  4. Beautiful images. And what fun to get that close to the bison. Also love the Dale Lewis sculpture.

    A poem I wrote, “The Mighty Tatanka,” is part of the current Mankato Poetry Walk & Ride.

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