Hike Location: Eastman Nature Center (at Elm Creek Park)
Geographic Location: northwest of Osseo, MN (45.15504, -93.45008)
Length: 3.8 miles
Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)
Date Hiked: August 2018
Overview: A loop hike through creekside prairie and forest.
Park Information: https://www.threeriversparks.org/location/eastman-nature-center/
Directions to the trailhead: On the west side of
Minneapolis, take I-94 or SR 610 to Maple Grove Parkway (I-94 exit 213). Exit and go north on Maple Grove Pkwy. Drive Maple Grove Pkwy. to its northern end
at CR 81 and turn right on CR 81. Drive
CR 81 east 0.3 miles to Fernbrook Lane and turn left on Fernbrook Ln. Drive Fernbrook Ln. north 1.1 miles to Elm
Creek Road and turn right on Elm Creek Rd.
The signed Nature Center entrance is 0.6 miles ahead on the right. Park in the Center’s only parking lot.
The hike: The Twin
Cities’ Three Rivers Park District owes its existence to the Minnesota State
Legislature, which passed legislation to establish the Hennepin County Park
Reserve District in 1955. Over the next
20 years the district purchased almost 21,000 acres of land, mostly farmland in
the rapidly developing suburbs of Minneapolis.
In 2005, the district’s name was changed to the Three Rivers Park
District to reflect the fact that the district’s range had expanded well past
Hennepin County to include three major river watersheds: the Mississippi, the
Minnesota, and the Crow. Today the
district operates more than 27,000 acres of park reserves, regional parks, and
regional trail corridors at 25 different sites in and around Minneapolis, and
more than 11 million people visit these sites every year.
Located in
the northwest corner of the Twin Cities metro area just off of I-94, 4900 acre
Elm Creek Park Reserve is the largest park in the Three Rivers Park
District. The park reserve offers some
nice amenities including a championship disc golf course, a chlorinated and
filtered swimming area with a sand beach, several picnic areas, and 20 miles of
paved bike trails. Also located within
the park reserve is the Eastman Nature Center, which contains Elm Creek’s best
hiking options. Loop trails extend both
east and west of the Nature Center building, which is only open 9am-5pm even
though the trails are open dawn to dusk.
This hike explores loop trails on both sides of the building, and it
passes through a combination of woodlands and prairies, thus sampling all the
habitats Eastman Nature Center has to offer.
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| Trail leading to floating boardwalk |
Before you
start either of the main loops, the pond near the Nature Center building is
worth a visit. To get there, start walking
back out the entrance road. Where a
paved trail starts on the right, turn left on the dirt/gravel trail that is
signed as leading to the boardwalk. A
few yards later you reach the plastic floating boardwalk that takes you over
the middle of the shallow pond. I saw
several turtles sunning on logs on the evening that I hiked over this
boardwalk.
 |
| Small pond near Nature Center building |
After
crossing the boardwalk, the dirt/mulch trail climbs slightly to reach an
intersection with the Sumac Trail. Turn
right to begin a trip around the loop trails that are located west of the
Nature Center building. At only 0.25
miles, the Sumac Trail is the shortest loop trail at Eastman Nature Center, but
it passes through some of the park’s best forest. Numerous nice oak trees will be encountered
in this area.
Where a
spur trail exits right to reach the asphalt bike trail, angle left to stay on
the dirt Sumac Trail. At the next intersection,
turn right to temporarily leave the Sumac Trail and head for the Meadowlark
Trail, Eastman Nature Center’s westernmost loop. Very quickly you reach the Meadowlark Trail,
where this description turns left to hike this trail’s loop clockwise.
 |
| Prairie view on Meadowlark Trail |
The Meadowlark
Trail features more prairie than the Sumac Trail, and some benches give nice
views of the prairie area that the Meadowlark Trail encircles. This trail also features more elevation
change than the Nature Center’s other trails.
The trail descends gradually as it approaches Rush Creek, which remains
out of sight through the dense forest to the left. At 0.7 miles, the signed spur trail to the
Rush Creek Group Camp exits left near the westernmost point of this hike. Angle right to climb slightly and continue
the Meadowlark Trail.
 |
| Another prairie view |
The north
arm of the Meadowlark Trail traces higher ground with the prairie still on your
right. At 1.2 miles, you close the
Meadowlark Trail’s loop. Turn left to
get back to the Sumac Trail, then turn right to continue the Sumac Trail. The southern arm of the Sumac Trail features
more nice forest dominated by oak trees.
Just before
you reach the rear of the Nature Center building, you reach an intersection
with the Heron Trail and Oxbow Loop, which will be our route to the loops east
of the Nature Center building. Turn
right to leave the Sumac Trail and begin the Heron Trail, then turn right again
to begin the Oxbow Loop. As its name
suggests, the Oxbow Loop takes you along some small oxbow lakes formed by
slow-flowing meandering Rush Creek. The
stagnant waters in both the creek and the oxbow lakes form a perfect breeding
ground for mosquitoes, so expect lots of bugs when hiking along the creek in
the summer.
 |
| Rush Creek |
At the
Oxbow Loop’s eastern end, turn right to continue the Heron Trail. At the next intersection, turn right again to
join the Monarch Trail and begin a counterclockwise journey around the main
loops located east of the Nature Center building. This part of the hike is very forested, and
Rush Creek with its many bugs stays nearby on the right. Where the Monarch Trail turns left, stay
right to head for the Creek Trail.
Just past 2
miles into the hike, you come out at an asphalt bike trail. Turn right on the bike path and use its
bridge to cross Elm Creek near its confluence with Rush Creek. Just after crossing Elm Creek, leave the pavement
by taking a soft left on a signed trail that leads to the Creek Trail. At the next intersection, turn sharply left
to begin the Creek Trail.
 |
| Starting the Creek Trail |
The south
arm of the Creek Trail treads a bluff that stands about 30 feet above Elm
Creek. Where the Creek Trail splits, the
two options come back together in a few hundred feet, so you could go either
way. The left option stays in the woods
and stays closer to the bluff edge, while the right option stays more in the
prairie.
After the
two options come back together, you pass a picnic table with a trash can on the
right before a spur trail exits right and heads for Goose Lake. The Creek Trail curves left and descends
gradually to cross Elm Creek on a nice wooden footbridge. At the next trail intersection, turn right to
climb away from Elm Creek for good.
 |
| Mathprofhiker's shadow in the prairie |
The rest of
the hike features more prairie than forest as it follows first the Creek Trail
and then the Monarch Trail on a westbound course. At 3.35 miles, you cross a paved bike trail
just before passing an interpretive sign that describes some common prairie
plants. Where another asphalt trail
comes in sight, turn left to stay on the dirt/grass Monarch Trail. The Monarch Trail roughly parallels the
asphalt bike trail until the Nature Center building comes into view. This building signals the end of the hike.
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