Superior Hiking Trail #1-13 - Rose Garden Trailhead to Hartley Nature Center

 

Superior Hiking Trail

Map 1 - Section 13

Rose Garden Trailhead to Hartley Nature Center

Date Hiked: May 4th, 2025

Other Sections Hiked That Day: Map 1 - Section 12, Map 1 - Section 14

The concrete sidewalk ascent after the Rose Garden, despite its incline, is quite the welcome reprieve after the alleged nature trail takes a long detour in the land of the paved and concrete. Duluth's ability to be authentically urban but to immediately transform into a seemingly quarantined nature oasis is uncanny. Once the sidewalk climb turns into the Chester Creek trail, it's hard to remember that these two places are so closely linked with each other. 

Chester Creek is such a magnificent delight, I was amazed this was the first I'd heard of it. Duluth is filled with so many epic views and wonderful excursions that it's easy to get lost in the shuffle, but even amongst Duluth's best, this stands out. A rocky climb next to a pretty raging waterfall, it's hard to believe that roads run mere feet from the idyllic setting. That's Duluth though, managing to balance the two with acceptable levels of separation. 

Keeping with the theme of quick hitter transformations, Chester Creek gives way to the campus of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, which was bittersweet for me. I attended the campus for a cup of coffee in my first attempt at grad school before the second one led me to my degree, and I only left due to complicated financial difficulties that couldn't be solved. Being the first time I'd been back since that devastating, costly mistake, I once again recalled why the urge to attend that campus was so strong, despite the main branch being a few miles away in the Twin Cities metro: the views down the road that most likely take for granted are invigorating and awe-inspiring, no matter how many times one gazes down toward the Gitchee-Gumi from an elevated perspective. There's even a lovely scenic view in the woods shortly after the campus traverse, and given the amount of cans and charred remains of healthy snacks for the 20-year-old soul, it can't be dampened with the smell of stale beer and regret lingering in the empty forest. 

Just as quickly once again, the campus trails give way to a street crossing leading toward the Hartley Nature Center, where my car tempted me to cut short the Section 1 conclusion. I'd visited Hartley once before in the winter of 2024, but this time was different in ways that had little to do with the weather. In that winter adventure pursuing the Adventure Lab finds, the fog was thicker than the worst of Silent Hill during a Pyramidhead encounter, and nothing sealed that vibe like the horn of a freighter cutting through the thickness like a warning shot. On this lovely spring day, no vibes of giant threatening swords were even a wisp of a threat, so the only terrifying presence of evil lay in the mosquitos and ticks just waiting for the moment to strike. I think I'd prefer giant Pointy-Head McGee and his impractical blade of doom rather than those blood-sucking monsters. 

I dismissed the opportunity to stop at Hartley.