Railroad Trestle Bridge, Winchell Trail, Minneapolis
Railroad trestle spans above autumn foliage and the Mississippi River along Winchell Trail in Minneapolis.
The Winchell Trail follows the Mississippi River Gorge in Minneapolis, tracing the bluffs between Franklin Avenue and Minnehaha Park. It's named for Newton Horace Winchell, Minnesota's first state geologist, who studied the gorge's rock formations in the late 1800s. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board built the path in the early 1900s as part of the city's Grand Rounds park system, and it remains one of the few stretches of unpaved, natural trail within that network. A rail bridge carrying freight lines across the river spans the gorge nearby, one of several trestles built through the corridor to link rail traffic between the city's east and west banks.
Photo taken in October 2023.
