Wesselman Woods — Attraction in Evansville

There are two things we look for when we travel. 1) Brewhouses and 2) Parks. We found both in Evansville, and Wesselman Woods is an amazing place, even though our visit was cut short.

It's a bit off the beaten path, as you have to go through a residential area and then past another park/sports complex, but it's worth the drive. The parking area is next to a community recycling center, which I think is appropriate because anything that's returned there isn't getting put in a landfill or thrown out into the wilderness.

When you enter the park there is a heavily-treed path you follow to the Visitor's Center. For being located near a large city you'd think that the park would be pretty open...exposed....but that's not the case. This park is SO green and you can't even tell where the Visitor's Center is until you're almost directly in front of it.

That Visitor's Center has quite a few displays (plant and animal) for you to peruse before you go out into the wilderness. The part I liked the best was the curved display that looked out onto an area that a variety of birds frequent, along with informational plaques. I could have spent hours in that room alone.

The cost to walk the trails is $5 per person. We were advised that we should apply some mosquito repellent because it had rained pretty heavily during the previous couple of days and, as a result, the mosquitoes were pretty thick. Well, I'm here to tell you, "the mosquitoes were pretty thick" doesn't even come close to describing the density of the mosquito population that day.

Nowhere Near.

What started out as about a 1½ to 2 mile walk turned into a quickly paced just-short-of-a-run 20 minute journey through what I'm going to call the Mosquito Jungle. These little buggers weren't just everywhere, they were EVERYWHERE, including places they shouldn't/didn't have the right /I never gave them permission for. It was crazy. We spent more time swatting these bastages than we did anything else. My wife and I took turns covering each other's back. While we DID apply more than enough repellent, these were the most defiant insects I'd ever seen. They were flocking to us like pre-pubescent teen to a Justin Bieber concert, and all we did was walk through the door.

What we were able to see of the nature preserve was beautiful. The trails are very clearly marked and directional signs are never too far out of sight (which came in handy as we tried to frantically find out way back to non-mosquito-infected territory), and the trails themselves were very well maintained.

The next time we're in Evansville we plan visiting again (hopefully NOT after a monsoon) so we can take our time to better enjoy the plant and wildlife without being attacked. It really is a...

There was a time we never had to pay to see our nature but now my daughter to me there for my birthday because i've always loved the beauty an peace but found out it was $5 to enter i was going to enjoy my little grandson and his mother with me but after that i was not going to let her pay that price when she has 5 other children she has to take care of an she does a wonderful job but they were n school so please tell me y whe i used to walk n an enjoy the nature around that didnt cost a thing. There are people out the who cant afford it but u seem greedy enough to take wat is not yours do u rememer the indians were here first so do something about it dont take wat is...

This was once the goto place for parks in Evansville. The nature trails were amazing. They have now since added a poot tax. 5.00 per person to walk through the woods. How sad. As kids and young adults we would walk these trails a few times a week. Now it cost to walk in the woods. The trails are now run down and disrepair. The nice old wooden signs are replaced with dull plastic ones. The deck of the wood on the wood foot paths is broken, rotten, and so moldy its slick to walk on. But hey they are getting five bucks a head now! Like many things this park is left to rot as people pocket tax dollars and now low income cant even walk in the woods without a...