Mendota Heights: Oheyawahe, Parks and Trails

Mendota Heights offers a variety of reasons to spend time outdoors: Oheyawahe/Pilot Knob brings together significant history and a view of the confluence of two rivers, while trails, golf, and seasonal ice rinks offer other ways to enjoy the outdoors. If you’re looking for a vacation rental, it can help to first consider which experiences you want to shape your stay.

Oheyawahe: Landscape and Dakota History

Oheyawahe, also known as Pilot Knob, is a 112-acre site in Mendota Heights. It overlooks the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers and is sacred to the Dakota. The area was inhabited by the Dakota and other Indigenous peoples long before Fort Snelling was established in 1820. To this day, it remains an important place for the Dakota community and other Indigenous people.

The name also speaks to the site’s significance: Oheyawahe can be translated as “a sacred place, often visited; the place people go for burials.” The site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2017. The 112-acre area includes 27 acres of public land. This distinction is useful when interpreting the figures: the public land is part of the larger historic site.

Parks and Trails with Their Own Character

Mendota Heights has 17 public parks and additional open spaces. Together, they cover more than 295 acres. Oheyawahe/Pilot Knob is among the open spaces listed; the total area refers to parks and open spaces combined, not to a single site. This means that, alongside the area’s historic significance, there are other public green spaces throughout the city.

The Big Rivers Regional Trail is accessible via the Big Rivers Trailhead in Mendota Heights. The paved, nearly level trail follows a disused railroad corridor. This offers a specific type of trail for anyone who wants to include a paved route in their day’s plans.

Another option is the River to River Greenway. The full route is almost 8 miles long and connects points along the Mississippi from Lilydale to South St. Paul. A section running through Mendota Heights is open to the public. A 1.4-mile section was upgraded to meet Dakota County’s Greenway standards, making it safer and easier to travel. These details make the route particularly interesting to cyclists, without implying that the entire Greenway is the same as this section.

Golf and Winter Activities

The Mendota Heights Par 3 Golf Course is a 9-hole course with a par of 27. More than 20,000 rounds of golf are played there each year. Dozens of programs, lessons, and events are also held, including the annual Trick-or-Teeing event each fall. So golf here is not just a single activity; it also includes lessons and recurring events.

In winter, the city’s outdoor ice rinks are open, weather permitting. The Parks and Recreation and Public Works departments flood, sweep, and maintain the rinks, also depending on the weather. This highlights the difference between a year-round leisure option and a seasonal activity: ice rinks can only be part of your day’s plans when conditions allow.

Plan Your Stay Around Your Interests

If you’re traveling with varied interests, you can explore Mendota Heights from several perspectives: Oheyawahe offers landscape and Dakota history, the trails provide opportunities for outdoor activity, the golf course offers play and lessons, and the ice rinks are a weather-dependent winter option. Search for a vacation rental based on the experiences you want to include in your days. That way, you can first decide on the kind of pace you want for your stay rather than choosing based solely on accommodation type.

Discover more destinations: Burnsville, Rosemount, Lakeville, Inver Grove Heights, Apple Valley, Hastings.

Back to the main travel guide: Dakota County: Nature, Family Attractions, and the Right Home Base.