Getting there: From downtown Minneapolis, head south on Hennepin Avenue to Lagoon Avenue. Turn right (west) on Lagoon and go 5 blocks. Lake Calhoun will be on your left. There is a 2-way parkway around Lake Calhoun with numerous free parking areas. There are also 3 parking lots that charge $.25 per hour. Lake Harriet is .3 miles south of Lake Calhoun and is connected by the William Berry Parkway. The Parkway around Harriet is 1-way counterclockwise. There is also free parking along the Parkway. There is a parking lot located at the northwest end of the lake next to the Amphitheater and Concession Pavilion, but this is now a patron-parking only lot.
Length: Lake Calhoun has a 3.1 mile loop and Lake Harriet is 2.8 miles around. The direction of travel on both is clockwise.
Difficulty: These trails are easy. The Lake Calhoun trail is flat whereas Lake Harriet has 2 baby hills that most advanced beginners can handle easily. Both trails are wide enough for traffic to pass safely. There are two sets of trails: one marked for bikes (which is also the one that skaters should use) and one marked for pedestrians only.
Popularity/number of other users: Mondo popular! On a great weather day the trails are wall-to-wall people skating, biking, pushing strollers and even pedestrians who don't know or care that they have their own trail. The Parkways are bumper-to-bumper with cars and motorcycles. On a bad weather day, who cares about skating?
Surface conditions: The surface quality for the most part is excellent with smooth asphalt.
Scenery: Mondo scenic! The greatest safety hazard is the distraction caused by people-watching rather than watching where you are going.
Water: There are fountains around both lakes. Each lake also has a concession stand that is usually open between June and July.
Other nearby trails: Immediately north of Lake Calhoun is Lake of the Isles and that, in turn, connects to Cedar Lake. The Cedar Lake trail follows the west shoreline and has a newly repaved surface (as of June 2004). Lake of the Isles has a complete loop (see separate review). The Midtown Greenway trail runs north of Lake Street, and can be accessed via Dean Parkway or the parkway east of Lake Calhoun.
Comments: During the summer weekend afternoons you may find a slalom course set up at the southwest end of Lake Calhoun just west of the Thomas Beach parking lot - or immediately north of the Lake Calhoun Concession building at the northeast end. This is a great place to test your skills and wow your friends by weaving through the cones forwards, backwards or sideways.
Map:
