Bagley Nature Area | Recreational Sports Outdoor Program

Activities

Winter Activities

Ski trails are groomed for classical style skiing by RSOP. In general, grooming occurs Monday evenings, Thursday or Friday evenings, and whenever snowfall exceeds 2" from early January through the end of February. Ski trail conditions can be found at Skinny Ski.

Bagley Ski Trail Map

Other Activities

Hiking - General Trail Map. Wonderful wood chipped trails as well as the Superior Hiking Trail
Bagley Campground - 6 rustic walk in campsites. Full details .
Biking is NOT ALLOWED on the trails, except for the Duluth Traverse Trail.
Birding - The diverse forest habitat and Rock Pond make for excellent birding, especially during both spring and fall migration. The overlook at the top of Rock Hill is an excellent platform for viewing the raptor migration in the fall.

The Bagley Classroom

The Bagley Classroom is NOT available for use by non-University entities, unless partnered with a University department to deliver outdoor, natural resource, environmental, or sustainable education related programming. Full policy can be found here.
University related organizations can submit a request via the Astra Scheduler or emailing [email protected]
This building is an excellent example of green building techniques and technology. Find all about it here.

History

Here is a great article that is an overview of the history of Bagley Nature Area.

The story of the land that is now called Bagley Nature Area is varied and unique. The area is a conglomeration of donated lands, tax forfeit lands, and purchased lands that form an excellent mosaic of various habitats and stories. The best place to start discovering the history of the site is to read The Hidden History of Bagley Nature Area by Gina Temple.

If you like digging through old articles and letters, here is a compilation of some of them that are related to Bagley Nature Area (or the articles may call it "Rock Hill Park", which is Bagley's previous name).

The nature area is named after Dr. William R. Bagley, a prominent physician in Duluth who was also a very important conservationist in the middle part of the 20th century. He and his family donated approximately 17 acres of the land for recreation and education.