The best MTB trails around Brooklyn Park

This creek runs almost 22 miles in total, and is popular with paddlers of all sorts. If you want to kick back and watch them zoom by on the current, pull over and look for some benches on the east bank.

Part of Theodore Wirth Park, The Trailhead is a hub for outdoor recreation in the community. Here, you'll find ski passes and all the essentials for your adventures in the park. There are lockers, a drinking fountain, restrooms, concessions, and equipment rentals.

When waters run high, this 53-foot-tall waterfall turns into a thundering cataract. There are picnic tables up top, and a trail that takes you down to nice views of the falls from below. It's well worth parking your bike to spend some time here.

This trailhead sits at the junction of Medicine Lake Trail and the Luce Line Regional Trail along the banks of Medicine Lake. The trailhead offers parking, beachside amenities, restrooms, and drinking fountains.

The Luce Line Trail stretches 76.7 miles across Carver, Hennepin, McLeod, and Meeker counties, connecting rural Minnesota with urban Minneapolis. This rail trail has different surfaces along the way, including asphalt, crushed stone, and grass, and is open to biking, walking, running, horseback riding, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing. The trail passes through wetlands, wooded areas, lakes, and prairie remnants, with highlights like Otter Lake and Medicine Lake. The trail connects with other regional paths and provides scenic views, including the Minneapolis skyline. The Luce Line follows a former rail corridor with a rich history dating back to the early 1900s.

The Lake Nokomis Trail in Minnesota is a 7.3-mile paved path that stretches from Minneapolis to Burnsville, connecting three communities: Minneapolis, Richfield, and Bloomington. This 10-foot-wide trail is popular for biking, walking, jogging, and inline skating, while also being wheelchair accessible. Along its route, the trail passes through parks, residential areas, and near popular attractions like the Mall of America and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It links to other regional trails, such as the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway and Minnesota River Greenway, with parking available at various points, including Taft Park and the Cedar Nichols Trailhead. Lake Nokomis spans 204 acres and is a true natural highlight of the trail.

Please note that those two squiggly knots within Wirth Park are single track mountain bike trails and not suitable for road bikes (as I learned earlier this week as I found myself tangled in a large swarm of kids taking part in a mountain biking class on the trail and hurriedly trying to backtrack out of there). Luce Line Trail can be used to bypass those parts to the west if you weren't intending to mountain bike!

This 22-mile trail connects several parks and passes by lakes through Maple Grove. This section takes you through Elm Creek Park Reserve on a nicely paved path through a heavily forested area. During the fall, the changing colors of the leaves create a stunning backdrop.