Paul Bunyan State Trail-Minnesota-Day 1-Crow Wing State Park to Jenkins

For this leg of our Minnesota bike trip, we were able to use a shuttle service in the area. We went with Soulshine Cyclery based in Hackensack, MN. Bikes, Coffee, Adventure is their motto. That sounds good to me! Once we gave them an idea of the mileage we wanted to ride each day, (around 40ish) they made all the lodging reservations for us based on that mileage. It saved us a lot of time in research and planning and they provided us with a map and suggested eating options along the trail. Most importantly, they shuttle our luggage for us each day from place to place, so all we have to do is ride our bikes to the next night’s lodging along the trail.

Soulshine Cyclery picked us (and our bikes) up at the hotel in Bemidji, MN the first morning at 7:00 am and took us 2 hours south to Crow Wing State Park where the Paul Bunyan Trail begins. Rhonda, the owner’s mom was our courier and we enjoyed the ride very much. She had some great recommendations on things to see in the little towns we would pedal through as we headed back north toward Bemidji over the next 4 days. She was also able to point out the places we would be staying each night so we’d know what we were looking for as we concluded each day’s ride.

We arrived at the park around 9:15 am, unloaded the bikes and set off.

Crow Wing State Park is beautiful and is recovering nicely from a recent forest fire. There’s already lots of new healthy plants. We saw all types of wildflowers, wild asparagus, and wild raspberries were plentiful along the trail. I ate quite a few raspberries, they were so sweet!

We rode along the Mississippi River here, then crossed it by bridge. It’s not very large up here, as it has just gotten started. Later in the week we will get to see the headwaters of the Mississippi, but at this point along the trail, it looks like a large creek or small river. Not the mighty Mississippi we are accustomed to seeing in the Southern States.

I took so many pictures because the day was just gorgeous and there was so much beauty to see. There are lakes all along the trail. You don’t have to ride very far before seeing another lake. There is almost always water in view. There are many cabins and family resorts in this area due to the abundance of lakes. Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes after all!

We took one of Rhonda’s recommendations for lunch and stopped in the cute little town of Nisswa right on the trail. The trail goes right through the middle of town and there were lots of food booths and attractions for the July 4th celebration. In fact each little trail town had something special set up for the 4th of July holiday.

We were seated out on the patio at the Main Street restaurant and watched all the activity along the main drag. I ate like a local and had some famous Minnesota wild rice in the form of a chick pea/wild rice burger. Minnesota has more acres of wild rice than any other state in the country. The burger was delicious! Jimmy went more traditional and had a regular burger and fries, also delicious.

After lunch, we pedaled on and 9 miles later, arrived at our place of lodging for the night. We got checked in and our bags were waiting for us behind the desk.

We had only one option for dinner, but it was a good one. We walked across the highway to the A Pine Restaurant. It has been in business here since 1965, and it had a very vintage, charming feel.

I don’t think it has changed at all since it was built and the servers were very friendly and sweet. I ate like a local again and ordered the turkey sandwich topped with slaw on wild rice cranberry toast. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten. Jimmy could not resist the fried chicken and mashed potatoes. We both had pie for dessert, because Rhonda had told us the A Pine is known for the pie, made by Grandma Bettie Jane who lives in nearby Brainerd. They were good pies! We ate every bite, but felt okay about it after biking for 37 miles today, lol! (Not sure why my pants feel tight!)