Duluth, Minnesota, Chester Park
Duluth, MN - Chester Park Take Chester Park Drive or Chester Parkway to Skyline Boulevard to begin at the top of the trail. This 2.5 mile loop trail is somewhat steep and often wet and is considered challenging. If you want to start at the base of the hill begin at 14th Ave. E. and 4th Street. Station 7 is about one block above 4th Street on the East side of the Creek.
Chester Creek is one of 23 major creek ravines in the City of Duluth. Spring fed, it rises in the area of Rice Lake and Arrowhead Roads and after leaving Chester Park under the 4th Street bridge it is diverted by culverts until it empties into Lake Superior below the Rose Garden on London Road.
Igneous rock sculpted by glaciation and water erosion created the geographical features of Chester Creek. The rock formations found in this general area are part of the core of the continent, The Great or Canadian Shield. This volcanic rock is more than one billion years old, some of the oldest on earth. At the top of the Park is the historic shoreline of Glacial Lake Duluth. The deposits of red clay found throughout the Park were lake bottom sediment, eroded silts from younger volcanic and sedimentary rock washed down by water flows from the retreating glaciers.
Small mammals and birds are plentiful in the Park and the varieties of plant life are a mix of native species and garden plants brought in by the Chester family when they homesteaded on the property, At the entrance of the Trail the Caragana or Manchurian Pea is an example of a non native species planted locally as hedges and as a small shade tree. It is also popular with the birds. An early bloomer its yellow, sweet-pea shaped flowers attract Humming Birds. The ripe pods shatter in August and fling the bean shaped seeds far and wide for enterprising sparrows and other ground feeders to feast on.
Chester Trail also boasts Nodding Trillium, Blue Bead Lily and Anemone to name a few of the spring flowers found here.
Photo Credits: Sam Brueggeman (More Info Here)
|
Advertise
Follow Us!
