Hartley Playscape

Hartley Park is a beautiful nature area up near Woodland that has a great nature center, trails for hiking, mountain biking, and cross country skiing, a pond and rivers, a fantastic climbing tree, and a playscape park for little kids.

While my bigger kids are fans of the biking trails and climbing tree, the toddler loves the playscape.  It is located inside a deer exclosure and is only open during the hours the nature center is open.  It is also only available at times that there are no camps, story times, or other nature center events.  Within the exclosure there is also a stage with seating and a yurt.

• They have a great water feature that is like a continuous creek that where there are no worries about kids getting swept along downstream or deep spots.  Warning: they will get in it and they will get wet.
• Big sandbox
• Ropes tied around a bunch of trees
• Little plastic toddler slide with steering wheel
• Paths
• A lot of sticks of all shapes and sizes
• Toy box full of trucks, boats, and buckets

Duluth Parks page

Hartley Nature Center page

Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park is a beautifully wooded area that follows the Miller Creek downhill from Piedmont to the Lincoln Park neighborhood.  It is surrounded by housing on several sides with paths and sidewalks going off in many directions.

The playground is not fenced and it is right next to the road that goes through the park.  The road is solely for the park, so it is not busy, but it is a road nonetheless.  Across the road is a bridge over the Miller Creek to a field and closed off structure.  The creek is not very blocked off, so younger children will need close supervision.  We did not find any porta-potties or restrooms.

The park has a disc golf course, a pavilion, and plenty of paved and unpaved walking paths.

The playground is a sand surface with two separate areas, one for older children and one for younger.  When we visited, there were several abandoned sweatshirts and food wrappers throughout the playground area.

EDIT: I just read an article that Lincoln Park will be going through a major renovation to improve safety and access to natural elements!  http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/4061878-plans-improve-lincoln-park-get-boost-vikings-us-bank

The larger structure is one of the most varied we have come across.  It has:

• 2 slides and 1 double slide
• Track glider
• Monkey bars of several varieties
• Ladders and steps
• Wobbly balance beam
• Fireman pole
• 4 swings
• 2 baby swings

The other section is intended for toddlers.  It is a cute little house with a picnic table inside and also includes a steering wheel, tunnel, and two bouncy animals to ride on.

Duluth Parks page

Chester Park

Chester Park is located near the University of Minnesota-Duluth, at a small ski hill and former ski jumping hill.  It is a sand park with trails and a creek very nearby.  There is a ski chalet down the road and a stage where they host concerts on Tuesday evenings in the summer.

My boys love this playground but it isn't perfect.  The parking lot and road are very close to the playground itself and my toddler is constantly trying to go down by the cars.  The creek is also within toddler escape distance so I have to watch closely whenever he is on that side of the playground.  The big boys like to run onto the stage and dance for a few minutes as part of their play.

There are several picnic tables and three benches.  There are no bathrooms near the playground.  EDIT: I have been told that there are bathrooms inside the chalet.

Some features:

• 2 swings
• 2 baby swings
• Brand new swirly slide (the old one was metal and of questionable integrity.)
• Merry-go-round
• 2 double slides (great for racing)
• Rock wall with holds
• Track glider
• Steps and a curved ladder
• Spinning wheels monkey bars
• Pull-up bar

Duluth Parks page

Lester Park

Lester Park playground is located between two rivers on the farthest eastern edge of Duluth.  The rivers are enough to make me a little nervous with toddlers and keep a more vigilant eye that they don't wander too far but the playground is situated a good distance from them.

The surface is a rubber mat, which is great for shock absorption and means no little pieces for kids to throw or babies to put in their mouths.  There is still some concern among parents about off-gassing but it doesn't seem to be as worrisome as the recycled rubber tire mulch.

There is no fence around the playground, but a good tree line separating rivers/trails and open play area.  The parking lot is across a bridge and river, so plan on taking everything you will need out of the car in the first go.

There is a pavilion with tables, a soccer field, picnic tables, benches, and a lot of nice trails for walking and mountain biking.  The Lester River is a very popular swimming hole in the summer but it can be a trek to carefully get down to it, so take you time and assist little kids.

The playground consists of:

• 2 slides
• A climbing wall
• Steps and ladders
• A bridge made up of individual round steps at differing levels connected by rubber coated chains.

There are no swings, and if there is a large number of kids playing, the structure quickly gets overrun and it becomes hard to keep track of kids.

I didn't manage to get a picture of this playground when we recently visited because my son actually slipped and fell on the bridge section, hitting his head on the hand railing and necessitating a visit from the paramedics to make sure he was ok.  I am most definitely NOT a fan of that bridge, especially with the hard metal pieces and metal hand rails.  It is definitely not accessible to kids under about 4 and I really wish it had a traditional bridge that wouldn't allow kids to slip through the cracks.

EDIT to add picture:

Duluth Parks page