Parks & recreation in Gary-New Duluth, Minnesota
Part of the Gary-New Duluth neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
The community park is the anchor and it punches well above the neighborhood's size. Gary New Duluth Park, at 801 101st Avenue West beside Stowe Elementary, carries a community center, a skate park, two soccer fields, a dog park, a multi-use sport court, outdoor basketball and pickleball, a pavilion, a gazebo, picnic areas and a community garden. It operates through a partnership between the resident-led GND REC organization, the City of Duluth, Duluth Dog Parks, the Arrowhead Youth Soccer Association and the Duluth Community Garden Program (City of Duluth and GND REC, both accessed 2026-08-13).
The river is the other asset. The St. Louis River estuary below the neighborhood is among the best paddling and fishing water in the region, with Boy Scout Landing at the end of Commonwealth Avenue as the local put-in. Waabizheshikana, the Marten Trail, runs the corridor between Fond du Lac and West Duluth.
Immediately west, the Mission Creek trails form the far end of the Duluth Traverse singletrack network. Above the neighborhood, Magney-Snively Natural Area holds a large stand of old growth off the western end of Skyline Parkway, one of the quieter significant natural areas in the city. Northeast about five miles, Spirit Mountain offers downhill skiing, tubing and a lift-served mountain bike park.
Chambers Grove Park, three miles west in Fond du Lac, gives river frontage, fishing and a playground, rebuilt after the 2012 flood.
In winter the park rink and Spirit Mountain do most of the work, with snowmobiling on the forest roads west and ice fishing on the estuary.
Winter: skating and the rink at the community park, downhill skiing and tubing at Spirit Mountain, snowmobiling on the forest roads west, ice fishing on the estuary.
Parks
The neighborhood's central amenity, at 801 101st Avenue West next to Stowe Elementary. Run in partnership between the community, the City of Duluth and local organizations including Duluth Dog Parks, the Arrowhead Youth Soccer Association and the Duluth Community Garden Program.
Riverside park just west in Fond du Lac, rebuilt after the 2012 flood.
Large natural area on the ridge above the neighborhood, off the western end of Skyline Parkway.
Trails
The river corridor trail running between Fond du Lac and West Duluth, carrying an Ojibwe name meaning the marten's trail.
The far-west end of the Duluth Traverse network, immediately west of the neighborhood.
Parks & recreation next door
Directly northeast, the concrete company town built by the same industry, and the neighborhood this one's history is inseparable from.
Fond du LacSouthwest across Sargent Creek, older and thinner, with no store or school of its own.
Spirit ValleyThe nearest full commercial center, about five miles northeast, for groceries, pharmacy and hardware.
DenfeldThe high school neighborhood and the west side's best-value housing grid.