While you don’t get to ride over the bridge in the photo on the loop trail, you get some good views of it. The trailhead is in downtown Hastings in a large, covered parking lot on 2nd Street. I had printed a copy of the route before leaving and was glad I did as the trail itself is not well marked. You can get onto the trail by going east across the first street and turning left onto the trail (beware: the trail to the west leads to a very steep hill that is a lot more fun to come down than go up). This part of the trail goes past the river on one side and local restaurants, bars, and other businesses on the other for about a mile or so and ends at an old railroad station on a street. From there you have to find the trail on your own but it is close, just west of the station.
I followed the trail as it went through nice residential areas and in about a mile or two saw a sign that read “Hastings Loop Trail” but it had been placed so far along the trail that it was no help at all leading a me to the trail. This happened several times on the ride. There were, at some trail intersections, spray painted white arrows but they did not identify the trail, sometimes pointing the way of the trail and sometimes pointing toward a different trail, neither of which were identified. At one point I came to the intersection of three trails and took the wrong one which went uphill to a school playground, around the playground, and looped back to the portion of the trail I had been on. I then took the third trail assuming it had to be the loop trail. Again, about a mile down the trail a Hastings Loop sign had been placed but as I had already found the trail it was not of much use (the signs should be placed at the intersections of trails so the riders know which way to go). About five miles into the 10-mile loop the trail abruptly ended at a residential street and, again, there was no signage showing the way to the trail. I rode the street thinking I would see the trail but after several blocks I finally resorted to the map which, being a man, I am adverse to doing. The map led me down a series of streets through several neighborhoods and finally back to the trail. Without the map I would have had no idea which way to go. Once back on the trail I had about three miles to go and the trail was easy to follow. I put in fifteen miles to get around the ten-mile loop and was not particularly happy about it.
Okay, now that I’ve discouraged you from trying this trail, let me cover the good parts. First, if you download the trail map and use it the trail won’t be that hard to follow. I didn’t use the map, being the typical man, until I absolutely had to and by then I was a bit cranky. Again, the trail goes through nice woodlands and a portion of it is on nice neighborhood streets. A couple of miles in, the trail goes past a wooden plank bike bridge that is not actually part of the trail, that goes over a gorge and from where I took the above photos. I never did find out where that trail led but I assume it just went into a neighborhood.
I followed the trail and, as I said, had to resort to the map when the trail ended abruptly at a residential street with no clue as to which way to go. When I found the trail again I was able to follow it, as there were no side trails, back to where it ended at the trailhead where I had parked. On the way the trail passed a marked overlook that would have offered a good view of the river had the view not been blocked by numerous branches and other brush that should really be trimmed so the view can be enjoyed. This sort of thing happens often on trails—no one on the trail commission actually bikes the trail and, thus, the commission does not know how the trail should be maintained or could be improved.
But I digress; from the overlook the trail descends the aforementioned steep hill, over a dam, along the St. Croix, giving good views of the river, and back to the trailhead. This part of the trail was the most pleasant and scenic but, unfortunately, only a couple of miles long. The photo of the bridge at the top of this story was taken from this section of the trail.
All in all I’d say the trail was just average but was worth my one-hour drive. It could have been much better, however, with better signage and better maintenance.