What better way to see Minnesota than on a bicycle built for two.

            That’s what Louise and Jeff Davis of Seattle, Wash., told friends when they returned home from a five-week bike tour of Minnesota’s bike trails with an extra two weeks across Wisconsin.

Name: Craig Larson

Name: Ginny Gelms

As Paul Nordell examined the mud-encrusted pop can he had just pried loose from amid the trash scattered along the riverbank in downtown Minneapolis, he heard and felt a slight rustling in the can. Cutting it open he was suddenly eyeball to eyeball with a Mississippi River crayfish! He quickly freed the canned crustacean that had crawled into the small can opening, found it most suitable and then had grown too large to get back out.

My wife, Jen, and I have roamed many of Minnesota’s parks and trails and every trip has brought new experiences and new lessons. Here are a few of the do’s and don’ts we’ve learned the hard way.

   The June sky turned an angry thunderstorm blue bringing rain down on John A. Latsch, canoeing near Camp Glory, now Bass Camp, on the Mississippi River above his hometown of Winona.

     Latsch, a wealthy, 47-year-old grocer, loved to fish, hunt and explore the byzantine backwaters of the Mississippi River in his little boat. Back in 1907, the Mississippi River bottomland was privately owned yet used by the public. Usually, landowners allowed boaters brief refuge along the shore.

Long time Eagle Scout and scoutmaster Todd McMahon (a.k.a. T-man) has hiked five hundred miles over the last three years. In the process, he’s trekked the Superior Hiking Trail from north to south, seeing eighty of its 93 backpack sites. With an eye out for the “coolest” sites, he offers veteran advice for an overnighter on the trail.