By Bruce Karnick

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Hastings is blessed to have a lot of unique things that compliment each other. Trails, parks, great community organizations and businesses, wonderful amenities and a great riverfront all add to the charm of our town. The Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce and the Prescott Area Chamber of Commerce partnered with Carpenter Nature Center, The City of Hastings and Great River Road Visitors and Learning Center at Freedom Park and they all pulled together for the first annual Eagle Watch Bike Tour, utilizing many of the above listed items for a wonderful, family friendly event on Saturday, May Eighth.

The inaugural tour focused on the trails along the Mississippi river, particularly the Point Douglas Trail, a 3.5-mile trail between Hastings and Prescott. That trail is a nice, wide, paved trail that follows an old train bed. The trail is mostly flat and very quick for even the most novice of teen on up bike riders. Young kids will have no issues with riding it either and it is a geographically safe trail with no open, easily accessible off trail drop offs. The most difficult portion of the trail occurs around the Hastings Bridge. As riders approached the curve to make the turn to Hastings or Prescott, depending on the direction you were headed, they were offered a quick water break by the Hastings Mountain Bike Team.

The eagle watch portion of the tour featured marked location of known eagles’ nests and a viewing station set up near the lock and damn portion of the trail. That viewing station was manned by folks from Carpenters Nature Center to help visitors find the nests and explain the nesting habits.

The check in locations in both Hastings and Prescott featured light snacks and refreshments along with staff to answer any questions folks had. There were also some animal guests at each trail head. A falcon and an owl were the stars in Prescott while a Red-Tailed Hawk was the star in Hastings.

Overall, between the two check in points, an estimated 90-120 registered people participated plus the random passers by that stopped and gathered information.

The Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce partnered with The Prescott Area Chamber of Commerce and Carpenters Nature Center to host what they hope is a yearly Eagle Watch Bike Tour. Here, Kristy Barse of the Hastings Chamber and Abbey Holden, Naturalist from Carpenters Nature Center, talk with tour goers at one of the stations on the trail. Photo by Bruce Karnick