Walking Lake Nokomis

 Last Saturday was such a beautiful day and since it's November, the time is being limited to sunshine and temperatures nearly 50 (10 C). I decided it would be a good idea to get out for walk. I decided to go the Lake Nokomis walk again, one I did in September 2012. Driving to the start showed I wasn't the only person with the idea to get outdoors. There were many people walking and biking around the lake, and I saw, too, quite a few dogs walking their people -- that's what I call it when the dog is on a leash about 10-15 feet ahead of his/her human!

This walk starts from a Caribou Coffee shop is a pleasant residential area. I asked for the Walk Box and was given it quickly, but obviously it had been in area where coffee on it -- some of the papers inside were wet! I enjoyed a coffee and piece of cinnamon bread while I did the paperwork for the walk and reviewed the map.

It appeared this coffee shop was a place that dads in the neighborhood enjoyed on a Saturday afternoon. They were enjoying their time and some little girls were having a fine time playing in their "princess" dresses.

I laughed too at the napkins which invited us to have "fancy" coffee.

The detail on the napkin made "lace" around the coffee cup.

At last I started out walking east along Minnehaha Creek.

I like how the angles of the sun in autumn help to create reflection images. The creek depth looked like my ankles might wet, but not my knees, but I surely didn't try for real. When I got to 22nd Street, I crossed over to the path along Lake Nokomis.

This year I learned the original name of the lake was Lake Amelia. When the Minneapolis Park Board purchased area around this lake to create a park, the lake was renamed to Lake Nokomis after the grandmother in Longfellow's poem, The Song of Hiawatha.

The day was beautiful for pictures of the lake.

The dock looks lonely because the Park Board has pulled in the part along the shore to store it for winter. The Park Board is also warning us.

Certainly the ice is not safe; right now we call it water!!

Along the lake, too, I saw some geese.

Actually there were hundreds.

The walk continues along the lake until one reaches CedarAvenue. Across the street, the path continues along an area called a lagoon.

It wasn't until I got home and did a internet search that I found a reason for this. The lagoon was designed in the early 20th century as place to store water in order to keep Minnehaha Creek flowing when the weather is dry, so that water is always moving over Minnehaha Falls.

The trees were giving us all a red carpet for our walk.

Eventually the path crossed over Cedar Avenue again and I walked along the southeast corner of the walk. Altogether without the detour along the lagoon, the path around the lake is 2.7 miles.

On the southeast side, too, I became close to the MSP airport. Planes were taking off about every minute.

It's a bit unusual for departures in this area, but I've surely landed over this area many times.

I noticed a grassy area that was covered easily with 200 geese. Then a car stopped and two young boys got out and started out to chase them. I had mixed feelings about that. I didn't think it was nice to chase them; on the other hand, I don't much like the geese. There are way too many and they an awful mess with their droppings all over the place. 

Turning towards the north I enjoyed this view of  willow trees along the lakeshore.

When I got around this area I found a sign explaining this was part of a Shoreline Habitat Restoration Area. The idea is to turn the lake shore from being an area that looks like a lawn for a house back to native shoreline plants. This has purposes such as controlling erosion and protecting water quality, but I laughed when I saw the last line, "As a bonus, discourage nuisance Canada geese."

Walked back to the coffee shop, had another cup of coffee while I rested a bit. A very nice walk on an autumn day.