Duluth Gate and Wayfinding Master Plan
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division is in the planning stages of a Gate, Wayfinding and Trail head/Orientation Plan. A public meeting took place in June where the city’s consultants provided five concept designs to be used for park entries, trail heads, information kiosks and historical markers. The city is seeking additional input from the public until July 20 using an online survey, after which a summary of the survey will be provided to the Duluth Parks Commission.
The five concept designs and additional background are online at duluthmn.gov.
Direct link to design options PDF | Direct link to survey tool
How did 10,000 BC man get along without it?
Maybe it’ll make more sense when they’re not all stacked together like that.
‘Duluth, because you don’t want nature to bite you in the ass…’
I thought that was a bell for a second. Like who’s gonna come save you in Congdon when you’re ringing a bell at 2a.m? All you’re gonna see are windows and shades closing.
This will come in handy when the streets are no longer navigable by car.
I took a walk on a mountain bike trail in Hartley the other day and had to stop every three or four minutes to decipher another map. The trail saturation in Duluth is ridiculous. Look to your left and see somebody zooming by on a bike. Look to your right and there goes a jogger. All three of you are on different trails. It’s not even like being in the woods any more. But that certainly isn’t stopping the city from building another 17 miles of mountain bike trail this year.
The Duluth News Tribune’s Sam Cook takes on the subject of Duluth’s expanding trail systems and the potential for conflicts between different users in this week’s Outdoors feature.
Happy trails? As trail-building continues, hikers and bikers face challenges sharing city’s multi-use paths
The picture illustrates another peeve of mine. The hump of earth that everyone is trying to navigate was intentionally built into the trail for gnarly mountain-biking fun, but it serves no purpose for hikers other than to tire them out unnecessarily. Mountain bikers have redefined our public spaces more than any other group, and not necessarily in positive ways.
I think we should keep in mind that the hump on the mountain-biking trial is in a place people probably wouldn’t be hiking before there was a trail there. I do understand the point that the bumps and trails are man-made distractions from nature and there is a risk in creating too many of them.
Trails are not a natural part of the woods, but without them we’re left to bushwhack through the mud, which is much less fun and perhaps does more damage to the land. Growing up in Duluth, I spent a lot of time hiking on overgrown cross-country ski trials and paths that were poorly maintained. So I’ve been quite happy with the changes. Obviously there is a point where it could become too much — where it’s mostly trail and little woods — but I don’t think we’re quite there yet. It’s certainly something to consider, though.
My point isn’t that they distract from nature. It’s that they have no purpose except in the context of mountain bikes. To call such trails “multi-use” gives them a cachet I don’t think they deserve. As a hiker, I dislike zig-zagging back and forth and doubling back on myself while going up and down over manmade humps and staying alert for oncoming bikes, but in the lexicon of Duluth, that’s multi-use — meaning mountain bikes define the terms and everyone else adjusts as best they can.
You are correct, but again, you are on a trail that wouldn’t exist without bikers making it happen. I usually stay on the hiking trails, so I’m not as familiar with the mountain bike mayhem, but I’ll trust you that it’s not ideal.
Today I was hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail near the “Bridge to Nowhere” by Skyline Parkway and Highland Street. I stepped over some horseshit without giving it any thought, and then suddenly there were three women horseback riding in front of me … on a section clearly marked “foot travel only.” I can’t imagine it was a very fun ride, dodging low branches, staggering across rocks and hopefully not trying to cross any of the wood bridges that were obviously not built for that kind of weight.
I think the root of my problem may be that I consider trail-less green space to have value, but the city apparently doesn’t. I had no problem with mountain bike trails five years ago, but I guess I assumed there would be some moderation. Now most of my best trail-less spaces — the further reaches of Hartley and Lester, the escarpment above Goat Hill, great swathes of Mission Creek — have been been invaded by mountain bike trails. Those places feel diminished to me now, less special.
I do still have a few good places left, but I fear mountain bikers are poring over maps and staring at those places greedily.
Update: At a public open house in August the elements of design were narrowed.
The public is encouraged to complete the online Survey Monkey and register input on the concepts for the park monument entry signs and trail kiosks.
The survey will be open until Sept. 16. The final plans based on public input will be presented to the Duluth Parks Commission at its October meeting.