Lake Hiawatha Park — Attraction in Minneapolis

This is a gem of a park in South Minneapolis. We often walk to the park (or around it) to either check out the wildlife or just sit and watch the sun set over the lake. There are some areas that are left to grow wild which encourages wildlife. Birding is excellent here. I've seen eagles, osprey, owls, hawks, merlins, herons, egrets, kingfishers, swallows, warblers, and other various waterfowl and small birds. The sun sets over the lake and can be really lovely at times. The park is also popular for fishing (canoes on the lake or from shore, there is a fishing dock), the playground and wading pool, and pick-up basketball games. It has a park bldg which is available for rentals and family activities.

There is a beach here and swimming is permitted but, frankly, I wouldn't swim here. I don't think the lake is clean enough. I'm also not sure if anyone eats the fish they catch here or only do catch and release.

The park is connected to the Grand Rounds Bike Trail and there is a bit of bike traffic. One has to take care to look both ways when crossing bike paths while in the park and while walking across or near the foot bridge that goes over Minnehaha Creek in the park since there are blind spots that are ripe for bike/pedestrian collisions.

You are also just a few miles from the airport. There will be airplane noise. One has to accept it as part of South Mpls urban life. At times, we kind of enjoy watching them line up for landing or taking off.

Park land is only on the east side of the lake. Currently, the west side of the lake is the Hiawatha Golf Course which is fenced off...

Beautiful! We walked over to the lake to stroll around with baby, and it was a lovely walk. Clear walking vs biking paths (although some cyclists seemed oblivious to this near the playground). Lots of little hidden mini-beaches to stick your toes in the water or sit quietly alone and gaze over the lake.

In the early afternoon on a hot day, there isn't a ton of shade on the east side of the lake. Wear a hat maybe? That was our only complaint - we wished the city would have planted less shrubbery and willows, which obscure the view of the lake and don't provide shade along the walking path, and opted for taller shady trees instead. But still a lovely walk!

The playground is cute, too! There's stuff for super little kids and slightly bigger kids, but probably not bigger kids. The wading pool was hoppin' with folks, but we didn't want to overdo it with baby so I can't speak to...

Great park....I loved walking my dog Rody here. The rinks for skating in the winter were nice, ice fishing, kayaking down Minnehaha creek and across Lake Hiawatha towards home, the splash pad for little nieces and nephews, plus playground, catching carp with corn off the fishing dock, or simply enjoying a picnic with my girlfriend at the time....lots of great memories of this park by home from back when I was a true citiot and Minneapolis was a much nicer city to live in. I was a true Minneapolitan and loved it, but I sure AF am not one now, never will be again, and absolutely don't miss it. Thanks for all the memories Lake...