Mississippi River Trail Maps - Bicycling

Bicycling in Minnesota | Routes and Maps | U.S. Bicycle Route 45 | Route maps

U.S. Bicycle Route 45 maps

Map of the Mississippi River Trail/US Bicycle Route 45 and 45A from Itasca State Park to Iowa border along the Mississippi River.

Alternate routes

West of Bena: a small segment of trail on the north side of US 2 west of Bena is under construction. Cyclists should use the shoulder of US 2 until completed (see Panel Map 3).
Between Lake City and Red Wing: Minnesota Trunk Hwy 61 between Lake City and Red Wing will be closed for construction July 5 – Sept. 16, 2023. Follow signed detour.
Between Red Wing and Hastings: The Cannon Valley Trail. This trail is not part of the MRT and requires a daily wheel pass charge, but could be used as an alternate routing.
Between Hastings and Saint Paul: Dakota County’s 27 mile Mississippi River Greenway is now designated as part of the MRT/USBR 45. There is one section not yet completed, approximately 2.5 miles west of the Fahey Trailhead. To navigate this trail gap, cyclists may use the gravel Pine Bend Trail, which may be closed during trail construction, or may instead follow USBR 45A on the north side of the river from Hastings to the Wakota Bridge. (See Panel Map 15).

Maps and Route Guidance

View USBR 45/45A/MRT printable maps and turn-by-turn instructions (PDFs). Options are:

A one-page overview map (not suitable for navigation) [PDF]
Panel maps (route maps that include map segments and inset maps with large-scale detail, simple turn-by-turn instructions, and elevation profiles; suitable for navigation).

All Panel Maps - Printable on letter-size paper (30 pages at 8 ½ x 11”) [PDF]
Panel maps may also be downloaded by segment if you wish to tackle just a part of the route:

Detailed turn-by-turn instructions (suitable for navigation).

Southbound turn-by-turn instructions (Itasca State Park to Iowa) [PDF]
Northbound turn-by-turn instructions (Iowa to Itasca State Park) [PDF]

Use these in combination with the one-page overview map to supplement the simple panel map turn-by-turn instructions and to supplement the digital maps.

Digital maps

View USBR 45/45A on a digital map or download to your mobile device (links to external Adventure Cycling site)
Or, download a KMZ file to upload to Google Earth

Note

Service information on the maps, such as restrooms, campgrounds, bike shops, etc. may be limited to available state-managed data sets and have not been field verified. Riders are encouraged to use supplementary tools such as Google Maps or other sites listed above to identify additional services available.

Alternative Format

To request a MnDOT document in an alternative format contact MnDOT at 1-833-400-8432, relay assistance call 711, or email adarequest.dot@state.mn.us.