A few weeks ago I did that thing where I carry out some plan that probably isn’t a good idea, but I am sort of set on it, so let’s just start biking.
A few hours later I ended up at Mississippi Gateway Regional Park in Brooklyn Park. Rather than arriving mid-morning like I planned, I get there about 2 P.M. after an impromptu play date stop at Luxton Park. This late arrival gives the kids about 1 hour of play time and that same time of rest for my legs if I want to get home before dark, and I think they made the most of it. I’m glad we made it up there, though.
Mississippi Gateway advertises two big draws: the Mini-Mississippi water play area, and the playground. There are other things going on in this large regional park, including another playground, trails, a river crossing atop a dam, and a new tree-top boardwalk, but my intent was mostly to see the new playground. The water play area is what really caught my attention after I arrived, though, and I’ll talk about that first.
I hadn’t really heard anything about this waterpark prior to heading up, though I knew there was something that would require a swimsuit. All the way up I had a kid asking if we were going swimming and I had to repeat “I don’t know” about 100 times. When we pulled the bike up through the parking lot, it is this water feature that you first see and pass by before reaching the interpretative center or playground.
The cement and stones form a miniature river supplied by pumped water at a few spots that gently flow or pour down small waterfalls and empty in a drain at the bottom. It’s barely deep enough to full submerge an adult foot, which makes it easy to participate for adults who just want to roll up some pant ankles. The entire site is ringed by a new garden with benches situated along the edges, and a shaded picnic area sits to one side. A plumbed bathroom building faces the water feature just to the side, as well.
The water itself travels either through a winding channel that passes through a retractable hand gate or from a slightly deeper pool at the center before splashing through a hand-operated sluice. For added interest there was a crate of small plastic boats to run along the stream, but it feels like those will need to be replaced fairly frequently if they want to maintain some floating boats– the cement scrapes away the bottom of the plastic boats like sandpaper.
Fair warning about this water park: the red portions of cement are not slippery, but the gray stone-printed cement is extremely slippery with bare feet. I recommend bringing Crocs or other surefooted footwear and discouraging running.
Towards the back of the water play area, before you reach the large play structure which I’ll cover in a second post, there is a smaller “natural” playset. I’m including it in this post because while physically separate from the water area, it is in view of the water area such that you a parent could monitor both areas from the picnic benches. Unfortunately I didn’t grab a picture of it, but basically you have the “natural” timbers that are still ordered from a catalog (likely Kompan?). It’s just a monkey climbing area, nothing terrific to write home about, but it bridges that gap between the water play area and the larger playground on the bluff.
The Mini-Mississippi area is brand new, which means any new trees are still too small for shade. If you are considering a stop, this is the kind of trip where you need some minimum temperature to justify being in the water but weigh against how much UV you want in a day.
Overall, my impression is that the water play is better than the playground, and it offers something a little unique. Would I take the trip just for that? ….Probably not, except for the fact that if you bike there from Longfellow the route itself is actually pretty nice.
