Sometimes it seems like Duluth is a giant museum to obsolete modes of transportation: passenger trains, tall ships, dogsleds, footraces, skis, horsedrawn carriages . . . but sadly deficient in more 21st century alternatives.
For students without cars, or with no place to park them, the alternatives can seem daunting. Buses that run once an hour and quit before midnight? Streets that climb interminably uphill, breaking cyclists' hearts? It can seem best to just stay on campus, inhabit the hive, live in your jammies from November through April.
But you don't have to.
Biking the hill
At Continental Ski and Bike, you can get free bike trail maps for the region and the cities of Duluth and Superior. You also can get expert help from the likes of Andre Watt. When he was a UMD student, he biked up 21st Avenue East to Woodland Avenue to campus -- for seven years.
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His advice for biking from campus to downtown and back? Take Woodland from campus to Fourth Street and follow it to downtown, dropping down to Superior Street when you need to. He says Fourth Street to Woodland is the most gradual route from downtown up the hill, as well.
He also recommends taking St. Marie Street down to Wallace Avenue. Hang a right and follow Wallace to Third Street, then turn right again and run it all the way downtown.
And remember, until the first big snowstorm, you can combine biking with busing: DTA buses have bike racks, which remain on the buses until weather dictates their removal.
Riding the bus
The DTA is trying to serve you as well as its budget permits. The U-Pass Program entitles current students, faculty and staff to free rides. All you need is a photo ID from area colleges. Go to www.duluthtransit.com for detailed schedules.
To go to and from University of Wisconsin-Superior, take the No. 16 route.
If you go to the College of St. Scholastica, catch rides at Tower Hall on the No. 12 bus. There is on-campus service after 7 p.m. for CSS and UMD during the week on the No. 11 bus.
The DTA provides direct service to Lake Superior College from downtown Duluth on the No. 9 bus. Route No. 5 provides direct hourly service during the week to LSC from West Duluth.
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For direct bus service to and from UMD, take the No. 6, the No. 12, the No. 11 and No. 11k, the No. 13, and the No. 18.
Route 18 provides connections from UMD, Campus Park Housing and Boulder Ridge Apartments to buses traveling to the Miller Hill Mall area at Central Entrance and Pecan Avenue with only a 4-6 minute wait for connecting service.
Walking the city
The city of Duluth is about 30 miles long but only a few miles wide. That width is strung with beautiful ravines and creeks with waterfalls and wildlife -- and trails.
Hiking trail maps are available at the city of Duluth Parks and Recreation Web site ( www.ci.duluth.mn.us/city/parksandrecreation/Secondary
pages/trails.htm), but a few favorites near campuses are these:
n Congdon Park Trail follows Tischer Creek. The trailhead is just down St. Marie Street past the Mt. Royal shopping center at Vermilion Road.
n Hartley Park, with entrances near campus along Woodland Avenue and Fairmont Street, isn't really a route to anywhere. It's a destination in itself. But it's well worth hiking (and skiing).
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n Chester Park, on the other side of College Street, yields a lovely trail that takes you all the way to Burrito Union on Fourth Street. The Chester Laundromat is on the same block. It's the only laundry in the city with birds: cages of finches line the wall and serenade you as you spin-dry.
