Parks & recreation in Cody, Duluth, Minnesota
Part of the Cody neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Cody has no formal park of its own and unusually good access to everything else.
Keene Creek and its ravine run through the neighborhood, and the creek corridor park continues down through West Duluth. It is informal green space rather than a designed park, but it is at the door and it is the reason several blocks here feel wooded.
Five minutes south, the Lake Superior Zoo sits at 72nd Avenue West and Grand Avenue in Fairmount, which puts a full family attraction within an easy drive. Wade Stadium, the historic brick ballpark that hosts the Duluth Huskies, is about five minutes east.
The serious outdoor access is up and out. Spirit Mountain is about eight minutes southwest for downhill skiing, tubing, Nordic trails and a lift-served bike park. The Duluth Traverse, the 40-mile spine of a 90-plus mile singletrack network, runs the hillside with trailheads on both sides of the neighborhood. Further west along Skyline Parkway, the Magney-Snively Natural Area's old-growth sugar maple produces the best fall color inside the city, and the Superior Hiking Trail runs the same ridge.
Downhill, the Duluth Cross City Trail gives paved car-free riding northeast toward the Bayfront, and the Willard Munger State Trail's Norton Park trailhead at 75th Avenue West runs 70 paved miles south through Jay Cooke.
What is missing is the everyday layer: no playground, no ball field, no rink inside the neighborhood. Organized youth sports run through the West Duluth facilities.
Winter: downhill skiing and tubing at Spirit Mountain, Nordic skiing at Spirit Mountain and Magney-Snively, fat biking on the Duluth Traverse, sledding, snowmobiling on the Munger corridor.
Water access: Keene Creek through the neighborhood; St. Louis Bay access downhill in Irving and Norton Park; Boat landings on the St. Louis River corridor southwest.
Parks
The creek corridor running through the neighborhood and down toward West Duluth, and the defining green feature here.
The city zoo at 72nd Avenue West and Grand Avenue in Fairmount, about five minutes south.
Duluth's ski hill, about eight minutes southwest.
The old-growth hardwood tract out Skyline Parkway west, and the best fall color inside the city.
West Duluth's historic ballpark, about five minutes east.
Trails
The 40-mile spine of a 90-plus mile citywide network, with trailheads on either side of the neighborhood.
Access: Spirit Mountain and Piedmont trailheads
The paved cross-town route running northeast toward the Bayfront and downtown.
Access: West Duluth corridor below the neighborhood
The paved rail trail running south through Jay Cooke toward Hinckley.
Access: Norton Park trailhead at 75th Avenue West
The Duluth section runs the ridge line above West Duluth.
Access: Skyline Parkway above the neighborhood
Parks & recreation next door
Immediately downhill, the main street where almost every errand from Cody actually happens.
DenfeldEast, more housing stock, the high school, and the nearest published median.
FairmountSouth, with the Lake Superior Zoo and the Kingsbury Creek corridor.
Bayview HeightsUp the hill west, larger wooded lots, Proctor schools and a harder winter.
IrvingSoutheast toward the bay, a similar era of housing with a park and playfield.