Hiking in Rum River Central Regional Park • Twin Cities Outdoors

Ramsey, Anoka County • Daily or annual park pass needed

woman hiking on a paved trail in Rum River Central Regional Park, through the woods — *Enjoying the serene wooded trails in Rum River Central*

Of the three Rum River Parks in the Anoka County Park system, Rum River Central is the largest and best for hiking and trail running.

Why You’ll Love Hiking Here

This Park feels off-the-beaten path and so is very quiet. It’s very beautiful, too, and definitely worth checking out even if you have to drive a ways to visit.

All of the trails here—aside from the horse trails—are paved and multi-use. They weave through mostly woods, but also through some stretches of restored prairie. You’ll walk or run along the Rum River in places, too.

The mileage listed on the Park’s PDF map is in segments, so you can do the math if you want! Based on the pedometer I keep in my pocket, we walked about 4 miles in all (keeping to the paved trails). Very nice for an hour’s walk. If you hiked the horse trails you’d probably add twice that distance.

woman standing on a tree stump overlooking the Rum River — *The Rum River forms the eastern and southern border of the Park*

We visited on a Wednesday in September, so there were only a handful of others using the trails and no paddlers on the Rum. But in the summer months and on weekends, the Rum River Water Trail gets plenty of use, as do the paved trails.

The horse trails are natural surface and even prettier than the paved trails. We walked along one of those for awhile too, since there were no riders in the Park at the time. It looked like they get plenty of use, too. In fact, a truck and trailer were just coming in as we left. What a beautiful ride!

horse trail at rum river central, through the woods — *Beautiful wooded horse trails criss-cross the paved multi-use trails*

Even with their nice cross country ski trail system in the winter, there’s a decent amount of plowed trails here for winter hiking, too. Here’s Rum River’s winter map.

What Else is at Rum River Central

The Rum River is a popular water trail for paddling that starts up at Mille Lacs Lake. There’s a canoe camping site here at Central—one of the few in the Twin Cities area. You can launch here and go downriver to Rum River South, just before it reaches the Mississippi River. Or you can launch up at Rum River North and take your canoe or kayak down to Central, here.

Of course the paved trails are open to bikers, too. Currently, the trails within the park aren’t connected to the regional trail system, but plans are in place for a 20-mile regional trail to connect all three Rum River parks.

There are several kilometers of groomed cross country ski trails in the winter, mostly intermediate because of the hilly terrain. Off-trail snowshoeing is great here, too—hills for some challenge and the river, if it’s open, is always interesting.

NOTE: The $30 Annual Permit is good for all Anoka County, Washington County and Carver County Regional Parks. A perfect reason to see more of the parks!

Sharon Brodin

Founder & Publisher of Twin Cities Outdoors at Brodin Press LLC

Sharon loves to hike, paddle, camp, snowshoe and cross country ski...and she bikes sometimes, too! Besides maintaining Twin Cities Outdoors and her other blog, Heaven and Nature, Sharon works on client writing and design projects.