Great River Bluffs and John A. Lasch

Hiking Club Trail #40

HIKE DETAILS
Date: April 17, 2022
Location: Winona, MN
Length: 2.5 Miles
Difficulty: Easy
Cumulative Hiking Club Miles: 117.6 of 197

First hike of 2022 + Easter Sunday - we might make this a tradition. There are less people in the parks due to the Holiday - just the way I like it.

The trail was nice and started up high on the bluffs, so there wasn't a ton of climbing. Roots and rocks but nothing unmanageable. The trail leads to a beautiful overlook, looking over the bluffs and the Mississippi River - this hike would be spectacular in the fall! It's an out and back so you follow the trail back the way you came.

​We did have a surprise run in with an unleashed dog which caused mass chaos for my dogs. Rio got out of her harness while I was getting Penny out of control - thank goodness her and the unleashed dog just sniffed each other. The woman with the dog didn't leash it and just lingered around for awhile getting my dogs more and more worked up. The rules are there for a reason - please keep your dogs leashed!

John A. Lasch is HARD - small park, only one trail and it is all stairs... We stopped to get our passport club stamp and Rio and I decided while we are here we are going to hike it! 585 stairs to the top (and back to the bottom) - the views are amazing (would be better in summer or fall). My legs were like Jello climbing down, but we did it!