Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Bagley Nature Area


Today, being another near perfect fall day, Parker and I opted to go for a walk. I decided to head through the St. Scholastica woods to College Avenue and then into the university of Minnesota Duluth's Bagley Nature Area. It is a small, 55 acre pocket of natural lands in the heavily developed area near the college campus. The walking was very pleasant, warm enough for short sleeves, and Parker enjoyed seeing all the squirrels out and about.

While I had hiked through the Nature Area briefly before, on the Superior Hiking Trail, this was my first time getting a better look around and seeing some of the areas off of the SHT. It is certainly a nice little area for the students and local neighbors.

There is a nice small pond called Rock Pond, about 1.5 miles of hiking trails, and a high overlook of the surrounding area from Rock Hill. Parker and I were lucky enough to see some turtles basking on a log floating in Rock Pond

and a red tailed hawk being harassed by some crows.

At the overlook I noticed that it appears a ski hill at one time existed on Rock Hill and some research revealed that my assumption is correct. in 1957 a tow rope was installed there for downhill skiing. We rested at the summit area for a bit before making our way back home.

A good walk on a wonderful day!

No comments: