Sledding at Lion's Hill

Lion's hill, its technically in Crystal, but it was such a big part of my days of youth that I'm putting it in here. Its a sledding Paradise! Its got lights! Its got jumps! Its free! 

Location:

6822 32^nd Avenue North

 Crystal, MN

It's technical name is "Valley Place Park." But since it was sponsored by The Lions Club, I have always known it simply as Lion's Hill.

Its one of the best sledding hills I've ever seen. A giant mound in the middle of a big playfield. Perfect for sledding. Each side of the hill has something different to offer. the north side is the steepest and wildest, the south face is small and mellow. I've heard talk that there used to be a rope tow here, now a days you have to hike back up on your own strength.

Lion's has fun for everyone. As you can see here theres also 2 hockey rinks and a flooded field for skating on in winter time. They also have a warming house which is usually open, and a playground for summer time!

Night time dosn't mean its time to stop sledding! This well lit hill allows you to keep on trucking into the wee hours of the morning!

The North Face! aka the bumpy side

A common sight at Lion's: kids catching tons of air and having a good old time!!

Also my runner up sledding hill is Plymouth's french park: a great hill in it's own right!

Bomb "The Wall"

There is a special spot in plymouth known as "The Wall". At the intersection of 48th and Zachary the road drops off so steep that when your facing it up it literally looks like a wall.

When you’re standing at the top of the hill it’s the only spot in Plymouth (That I know of) where you can see the skyscrapers down town.  This is famous hill to bomb for the skateboard enthusiasts of Plymouth. Its an extremely sketchy ride, and depending on the repair of the road there are often pot holes which will grab you and throw you to the turf. Helmets are highly encouraged.

bombing the other, mellower side of zachary hill

I have also bombed this hill on a radio flyer red wagon. It was epic, and my crash at about 30mph left me with some serious road rash on my left thigh.

Geared up for longboarding, 2004

My craziest memory of bombing the wall is one night a good buddy of mine who was fairly new to skating decided that “tonight was the night” so we drove out there. And we watched him shove off and he just started flying down.  He rocked it, nailed the steep incline perfectly, but then at the bottom, one of those treacherous potholes caught his eye, he swerved toward the right curb hoping to bail into the grass, but it was too late! He jumped off took a few giant steps and then BOOM down he went luckily he only broke his arm and narrowly escaped death!

Well needless to say I encourage extreme caution on this hill


*Editors note: it appears the Wall has been resurfaced and is buttery smooth right now! (6/9/14)