North Mississippi Regional Park

Description: North Mississippi Regional Park acts as a hub for trails outside of its boundaries. There are several trails that link the parking areas to the trails at the south. One trail extends to the north boundary and to a trail to the Coon Rapids Dam. The official description of the park is at the Minneapolis Parks site.

Getting there: Take I-94 north of Minneapolis to the 49th & 53rd Ave exit. Follow the exit to N Mississippi Drive (between 49th and 53rd) N Mississippi Drive is the entrance to the park. Click here for a map.

• If you are coming from the north, follow the exit to 49th Ave and turn left. Then follow the other instructions.
• If the parking lot is full, you can go to the right out of the parking lot and turn on 53rd Ave. There is parking along Lyndale Ave within feet of the official lot.
• There is a second official parking lot next to the intrepretive center at the 49th Ave. entrance.

Length: There are 1-2 miles of trails in the park but much longer stretches after you leave it. The primary external trail is from the park up to the Coon Rapids Dam, where you can connect with the North Hennepin Trail Corridor. This trail (unknown if it has a name at this time) has varied conditions. It goes under I-694 to a few blocks of quiet residential streets till it becomes a wide sidewalk type trail (along West River Parkway) and then moves to the river side of the road and becomes a regular trail.