Blufflands State Trail is a 60-mile (97 km) paved multi-use rail trail system in southeast Minnesota. The trail system consists of two main segments, the Root River segment, and Harmony-Preston Valley segment. The trails are used mainly for bicycling, hiking, and inline skating in the summer, and for cross country skiing in the winter. Much of the trail, especially the Root River segment, is built along a former Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad) railbed following the contours of the Root River valley.
The degrading quality of the trail's pavement has generated concern from both trail users and local business owners. The trail was originally paved in the 1980s, and asphalt trails are typically expected to last 15 to 20 years. As of 2008, some sections of the trail still feature the original 23-year-old asphalt. There have been reports of several injuries to cyclists caused by potholes in the pavement. The DNR has expressed sympathy, but places a higher priority on repairing closed trails than on repaving open trails. In August 2007, some parts of the trail were washed out by torrential rain. The damaged areas were temporarily repaired with gravel fill, and were repaved by June 2008.
Read more about Blufflands State Trail: Root River Segment, Harmony-Preston Valley Segment
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—Henry Chadwick (b. 1920)
“We sank a foot deep in water and mud at every step, and sometimes up to our knees, and the trail was almost obliterated, being no more than that a musquash leaves in similar places, where he parts the floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a musquash trail in some places.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)