American Paradise on a Bike

by Bob Aldrich
Feature writer

There is a point in your life when you look back remembering a simpler, less complicated, less rushed, less complicated, less rushed, more essential life. 

Nostalgia is nothing more than trying capturing the best part of that moment, when you felt an unencumbered joy in the present, unfettered by worry or fear about the future, and not yet old enough to feel the weight of the past.   

The Dakota Rail Trail is one of the easiest ways to get there.

Like most bike trails, it is a straight line from A to B.  It runs from Wayzata to St. Bonifacius along an old railroad line for thirteen miles. Truth be told, bicycle trails can be a bit tedious.  They are straight, with no more than a 3% grade, since they were once railroad beds, and the railroads were not built with scenery in mind. 

The Dakota Rail Trail flies in the face of all of these ineluctable facts and presents instead a portal into the success story of America.