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OutdoorMN News - Construction begins on new horse trail bridge at Fort Ridgely State Park


Rick

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Equestrian enthusiasts will soon be able to enjoy the horse trails to their fullest at Fort Ridgely State Park in Fairfax, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 

Beds for pilings and riprap are already in place for the new bridge over Fort Ridgely Creek.

Beds for pilings and riprap are already in place for the new bridge over Fort Ridgely Creek.

Contractors arrived last week to begin construction of a new bridge across Fort Ridgely Creek, which is expected to be completed by mid-November.

Since the old bridge fell victim to flooding in June 2014, horse riders have had to make do with a temporary bridge that they used when the creek was low.

“The low-water bridge was not an ideal solution,” said Kathy Dummer, DNR southern region manager for the Parks and Trails Division. “Heavy rains would swamp the low-water bridge, and not all riders were comfortable taking their horses through water that could be several feet deep at times.”

The new structure will have a weight limit of 15 tons, which will allow heavy equipment and emergency vehicles to safely cross Fort Ridgely Creek.

“This will allow more trail projects and restoration to be completed in the future,” said Assistant Park Manager Joanne Svendsen. “We couldn’t get our heavy equipment back there with the old bridge, but this can help us do our job easier north of the creek and ultimately help us give our park visitors a better experience.”

Svendsen said she and the rest of the staff at the park appreciate visitors’ understanding through this process. “The horse trails and accompanying campsites are a unique attraction among state parks in this region,” Svendsen said, “and we’re happy they can soon be used to their fullest again.”

In the meantime, contractors put in place a low-water bridge of their own for their equipment.  That bridge, and the rest of the trail north of Fort Ridgely Creek, will remain closed to park visitors for the duration of the project.

Funding was provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster assistance program.

For more information, visit www.mndnr.gov/fortridgely or call 507-426-7840.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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