Breaking down the loops

Here's a quick recap of the four bike loops listed on the Greater Mankato Visitors Bureau's hiking/bike trail map. Hopefully my regular readers aren't "looped out" after having to suffer through four lengthy blog posts and my column in Monday's paper:

St. Clair/Eagle Lake Loop

Distance: 28.25 miles

Dominant geographical feature: Le Sueur River valley

Best place to eat along the way: Eagle's Nest, though Uptown Tavern has decent prices and free popcorn

Best known point of interest: Probably the Duke Burger at Eagle's Nest, though you might want a group of people with you if you're going to order it

Best kept secret on the route: Wildwood Park and its swinging-foot bridge. Doesn't seem like a lot of people know about that place

Sakatah/Madison Lake Loop

Distance: 14.75 miles

Dominant geographical feature: Lakes, lakes and more lakes

Best place to eat along the way: Trailblazer Bar & Grill

Best known point of interest: Madison Lake and Eagle Lake have some decent swimming areas. There's good fishing in that area too if you want to pack a fishing rod

Best kept secret on the route: Nothing really comes to mind unless you're going to continue east on the Sakatah Trail

Kasota Prairie/St. Peter Loop

Distance: 34 miles

Dominant geographical feature: Tie between the Kasota Prairie and the Minnesota River valley

Best place to eat along the way: For a quick lunch, I'd say River Rock Coffee. For a sit-down meal, I'd say Whiskey River.

Best known point of interest: The aforementioned Kasota Prairie and the Kasota Stone Quarry

Best kept secret on the route: The Amish furniture store in St. Peter is pretty cool to check out and the Linnaeus Arboretum at Gustavus Adolphus is a beautiful area to walk through if you feel like doing some hiking

Red Jacket/Rapidan/Lake Crystal/Minneopa Loop

Distance: 34 miles

Dominant geographical feature: Minneopa Falls, with strong consideration to the three river valleys and the Rapidan Dam

Best place to eat along the way: The Dam Store

Best known point of interest: Minneopa Falls

Best kept secret on the route: Justin Morneau's house if you're a Twins fan. If not, there's some pretty cool hiking trails around Mount Kato. I would say Minnemishinona Falls, but with the new bridge, it's starting to not be a secret anymore.