Biking Across Minnesota – Moorhead to Minneapolis and beyond

The fall is a great time to ride bike in Minnesota. The cooler temperatures and the beautiful fall colors add up to ideal conditions. In June of 2022 MnDOT released some great information about a route that connects cyclists in Moorhead to the Central Lakes Trail (CLT). Because the CLT then connects with the Lake Wobegon Trail, it means there is a dedicated route to ride from Moorhead to St. Cloud, MN and visa versa. I feel the 55 miles of the paved Central Lakes Trail are some of the prettiest along the path, but I am a little bit biased.

The route is officially called U.S. Bicycle Route 20 and starts eastbound in Moorhead at the ND/MN border on main Avenue. MnDOT created a panel by panel map that outlines each twist and turn along the route. If you are ambitiously interested in continuing your route to the Twin Cities metro, you can continue eastbound on Route 20 until you reach Hester Park, along the west shore of the Mississippi River. There you will connect with U.S. Bicycle Route 45 which runs all the way from Itasca State Park and goes clockwise through Central Minnesota (up to Bemidji, past Lake Winnibigoshish, over to Grand Rapids, around to Aitkin and Brainerd before officially heading south through Little Falls and St. Cloud). After St. Cloud, Route 45 goes near the I-94 corridor past Monticello, then over to Fridley and through Minneapolis/St Paul and on down the east side of Minnesota along the Mississippi River Valley all the way to New Albin, Iowa. Minnesota Bikeways also maps the route(s).

For MnDOT’s turn by turn instructions on U.S. Bicycle Route 20, you can print off this 6-page PDF (below).

USBR-20-in-Minnesota-Panel-Maps-19142663-v2Download