This 1.4-mile loop is the entire trail system, including the short spurs to the top of Mt. Minnie and Little Platte Lake. If you follow the loop in a clockwise direction, all the climbing is covered in the initial 0.4 mile.

At Post 1, a few steps from the parking area, head left, and the climbing begins. Within a couple of hundred yards, you can catch your breath on the steep edge of the ridge, looking down at the traffic on Deadstream Road and slices of Platte Lake through the trees. Within a quarter mile, you pass a bench and arrive at Post 2.

Headright on the spur to Mt. Minnie. The climb is steep in places but short, and the view from the knob reached at Mile 0.4 ... well, there is none most of the year due to the foliage. In the fall, this spot is a palette of colors, and by mid-to-late October, enough leaves have fallen so that there are glimpses of Little Platte Lake to the east.

Backtrack to Post 2 and head right. The trail skirts the ridge to its north end, often hugging the steep sides of it and allowing you to peer down into a handful of gullies. Interesting terrain. The loop swings sharply south, and soon you are descending towards Little Platte Lake.  Just beyond Mile 1, the spur to a bench overlooking the 805-acre lake is marked at Post 3.

If it’s heading towards dusk, sit for a while and hope the loons are calling each other with their eerie laugh. Every year, the Little Platte Lake Association installs a loon platform on the water nearby that is used as a nesting area for the birds. Also, keep an eye out for bald eagles. They are often observed perched in the trees along the shoreline here.

From Post 3, it’s a level quarter mile back to the parking lot.