Details
Features
About this place
Although it's only 20 minutes from Minneapolis, this beautiful prairie park is almost always empty and feels much further away. The park features a carefully restored prairie ecosystem and is home to foxes, coyotes, the endangered trumpeter swan, as well as dozens of different wildflowers.
Crow-Hassan Park Reserve is the largest prairie based park in the Twin Cities metro area. Although there are many ways to experience Crow-Hassan including horseback riding, canoeing on the scenic Crow River, or even staying the night in one of the park's campgrounds, the simplest way to enjoy it by foot.
The park is known for its prairie, so if you're visiting for the first time, that is a good place to start. Park in the main parking area off of Park Reserve Rd/Ghostley Rd and take the northern trailhead into the grasslands. The trail will wind its way north all the way to Crow River, passing between two small lakes on the way. Then you will loop back past Prairie Lake to the road again. The best time to visit is in the fall when the sumac turns red, the prairie wildflowers are at their peak, and the swans are migrating through the park. It is a leisurely, mostly flat route that's suitable to all ages.
If you have the time, make a day of it. Bring your kayak, pack a picnic, and spend the afternoon paddling down the river.