Are you craving the opportunity to lace up your hiking boots and hit the trails? In Southwestern Indiana, you donโt have to go far. Here are five trails within a dayโs drive โ and, in one case, in our own backyard โ from Evansville.
Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve
Inside Evansville city limits
Admission: $3-$5
Only in Evansville will you find the nationโs largest tract of old-growth forest in an urban setting. In fact, the 310-acre site is so nature-centric, feels miles away from city life. More than four miles of walking trails cut through white oak, blue beech, Chinquapin oak, and more tree varieties. (Donโt miss the largest tulip tree in Vanderburgh County, located inside the preserve.) Hikers may cross paths with deer, snakes, woodpeckers, owls, and a wide range of other animals. In spring, parts of the preserve are closed to allow the safe migration of salamanders. Highlights of this family-friendly site (but sorry, no pets allowed) include the Bernhardt Family Bird Sanctuary and the new Arwood Family Treehouse, both in the five-acre Welborn Baptist Foundation Nature Playscape.
Wesselman Woods also maintains Howell Wetlands โ a 35-acre tract of marshland, hardwood forest, upland meadow, and bald cypress slough โ on the western city limits.
Twin Swamps Nature Preserve, Posey County, Indiana
Distance from Evansville: 30 miles via IN-62 E
Admission: Free
Evansville Living readers are familiar with this nearly 600-acre section of the Lower Wabash River watershed, where the Wabash and Ohio rivers meet. Earthen trails wind past cottonwood, red maple, shagbark hickory, and pawpaw โ a tree bearing fruit whose yellow flesh tastes like a cross between a banana, mango, and pineapple โ and lead to a pair of marshes filled with bald cypress and overcup oak trees. Cross the boardwalk and climb the viewing tower for Instagram-worthy views.
Lincolnโs Woods Nature Preserve, Lincoln City, Indiana
Distance from Evansville: 43 miles via IN-62 E
Admission: $2-$9
The next time you visit Holiday World & Splashinโ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, plan a side trip to Lincolnโs Woods inside nearby Lincoln State Park. Dry and moist upland forests meet in this 110-acre tract and are populated with at least nine varieties of trees, including second-growth blackjack oak, pignut and shagbark hickories, and white ash. The Spencer County site is named for Sarah Lincoln, the elder sister of 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln who, with their parents and siblings, called this area of Southwestern Indiana home in the early 1800s.
The 1,747-acre Lincoln State Park surrounding Lincoln Woods offers 10 miles of hiking trails, two lakes, and overnight accommodations via cabins and camping sites.
Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve, Louisville, Kentucky
Distance from Evansville: 129 miles via Interstate 64
Admission: Free
Birders will want to consider a trip to Beargrass Creek, a 41-acre nature preserve within the Louisville Nature Center that is just east of Downtown Louisville. This preserve is big on winged creatures, with 30-plus butterfly species and more than 150 types of birds observed. Two miles of trails cut through native species like yellowwood and Kentucky coffeetrees, wild hydrangea, and purple coneflower. Owned by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, the Louisville Nature Center also sports sensory and rain gardens.
Shaw Nature Reserve, Gray Summit, Missouriย
Distance from Evansville: 204 miles via Interstates 64 and 44
Admission: $3-5
If youโre visiting St. Louis, stretch your legs at this 2,400-acre nature preserve a little more than 38 miles southwest of the city center. A division of the Missouri Botanical Gardens that is easily connected to the city via I-44, Shaw Nature Reserve offers 17 miles of hiking trails through Ozark Border landscapes such as dolomite glades, tallgrass prairie, wetlands, and savannahs. (The sweeping vistas across the latter are quite breathtaking.) History buffs will enjoy visiting the Bascom House, built in 1879 by Confederate Col. Thomas W.B. Crews. Flora fans should stop by Shawโs five-acre Whitmire Wildflower Garden, in which blooms more than 500 Missouri native plant species in sections for perennial, rock, prairie, water, woodland, and rain gardens.
