Trail Builders

Inheriting a love of the outdoors

By Linda Picone

There was no way Kathleen Connelly was not going to love the outdoors. Her father, who grew up in St. Paul, started going to the North Shore—“to one of those areas we’re now trying to preserve”—as a child, with a father who valued the outdoor experience.

Visit every park

Behind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual that shepherded the dream into reality, giving time, money or both in pursuit of the goal. The following is a Question & Answer feature with a dynamic pair of Trail Builders – Elaine Elnes and Charlie Silverson.

Mr. Border Route Trail

Behind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual that shepherded the dream into reality, giving time, money or both in pursuit of the goal. The following is a Question & Answer feature on one such Trail Builder - Ed Solstad.

Energy and determination

Behind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual who shepherded that dream into reality, giving time, money or both. The following Question & Answer features one such Trail Builder – Peggy Lynch. Lynch is the executive director for the Friends of the Parks & Trails of St. Paul and Ramsey County. She has been instrumental in helping to create the Lilydale and Samuel H. Morgan trails and she helped lead a successful effort to protect Crosby Farm/ Hidden Falls Regional Park from a housing development in the early 1980s.

Giving back to the community one trail at a time

Behind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual that shepherded the dream into reality, giving time, money or both in pursuit of the goal. The following is a Question & Answer feature on one such Trail Builder -- Steve Flagg. Flagg is the founder and co-owner of Quality Bicycle Products (QBP). He also serves on the boards of the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) and the Bikes Belong Coalition. Steve recently sat down with Minnesota Trails magazine to answer a few questions.

Making a difference

Behind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual that shepherded the dream into reality, giving time, money or both in pursuit of the goal. The following is a Q & A feature on one such Trail Builder -- Mike Prichard.

This Outdoorsman is a real state treasure

Though he admits he's slowing down these days, 97-year-old Henry Somsen has spent more than half-a-century building and supporting dozens of Minnesota parks, trails and wildlife management areas

Mr. Paul Bunyan Trail

Terry McGaughey has spent a quarter century working to make the 110-mile trail connecting Crow Wing and Lake Bemidji state parks a reality

Standing up for Minnesota's Great Outdoors

Behind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual that shepherded the dream into reality, giving time, money or both in pursuit of the goal. The following is a Q & A feature on one such Trail Builder -- Martin Kellogg. Thanks in large part to his vision and his persistence, Minnesota's great outdoor treasures will be there for future generations!

North Shore saviors

Behind every successful park or trail effort you will find a Trail Builder, an individual that shepherded the dream into reality, giving time, money or both in pursuit of the goal. The following is a Q & A feature on a dynamic Trail Builder Duo -- Mark and Joan Strobel. Thanks in large part to their vision and persistence, our North Shore parks and trails are national treasures!