Geese and garbage everywhere, I feared for my safety from the multiple groups of homeless looking people. Hear much on the news about people getting attacked while jogging near this lake and its surrounding trail. I'd strongly advise against going here, especially after 4PM
At least once a year we make it to the lake over the summer to play on the paddle boats as a family. Everyone has a blast. Personally the park itself it too covered with geese/duck poo to play in our walk the many paths, but it you can get past that who doesn't want to feed the birds? Even I can't resist. I just through it out the car window.
Nice little route for walkers and joggers; 1.8 miles around. Pedal boats available for those who want to spend time on the water. Nice park around the lake too, Restrooms available on both sides of the lake; east and west, picnic tables and some playground equipment.
Really more of a large pond than a lake, this lovely little spot is framed by a nearly continuous trail of silver goose poop. But that's alright, the trail around the lake makes for a great stroll or jog. You'll be sure to run into a tremendous diversity of Rochesterites along this trail during the short lived summer months. Rumor has it that the nearby factory keeps the water warm enough in the winter to allow the geese to stay much longer than they would otherwise.
After you've spent the day in doctors' appointments and tests, you'll probably need a place to go stretch your legs and decompress. Because it offers a flat, nearly two-mile loop, Silver Lake fills the bill very nicely. It ties in with the rest of Rochester's extensive foot and bike trail system, but if you need something longer, you could just do the loop twice -- or three times. This area is a little hot during the middle of a summer day, but when it starts to cool down in the evening, this place really stands out. (In the winter, you might appreciate the sun's warmth.) You'll have plenty of other walkers and runners for company. There'll be a lot of families with children clustered in the playground and near the parking lot on the west side. Watch your step. This place has a large resident population of Canada geese
There used to be 25,000 geese a year come to sit in the heated water (from the RPU plant) in the winter......now, you can rent canoes....paddle boats.......see a beautiful view of Rochester's skyline also.
We enjoyed walking through the park, and even in winter, there was open water where we could observe some ducks, including a hooded merganser. If you like feeding ducks, there are plenty of mallards here that will go after the bread you toss toward them.
the main middle lake that Rochester is always famous for, back in the day it used to be the home of 22,000 extra canadian geese now the city wanted to get rid of most of them down on the lake 3 years ago, so now its more like 2,000 geese. Canoeing, Paddle boats and more walking around the park is just about a 2 mile walk, great places to have wedding photos and 2 main areas for family reunions get together s and more.
Be careful when you ask your phone to find Silver Lake as it might do what mine did and direct you to a different one an hour a way. This one is just minutes away from St Mary's. We enjoyed renting bicycles and pedaling around the lake a few times. The lake attracts many Canadian Geese and ducks which are beautiful, but they seemed to be lacking in sufficient fear of humans as we had to verbally shoo them away from our bicycles. I definitely recommend Silver Lake for a nice outdoor break in Rochester.
Great place to have a picnic or just hang out or see some Minnesota native wildlife. We had time to kill & it was perfect, nice & quiet too.