Hornady Park is mainly an open space with some shade trees, a nice fishing pond, a shelter and a…read moreplayground. There is a loop for traffic to circumnavigate the park with an occasional pull off place for a few cars to park. On the east side is a shelter. On the south side is the playground. If you simply like being outside or letting your kids run and climb on the playground equipment, then you may have a more favorable view of the place. I'm not much of a fisherman, so I can't tell you if this is a good or bad place to catch fish, but I thought the lake looked well maintained. Review #3186

Hornady Park is a good place to keep you entertained. Very good splash park for little kidsread more

There are great walking trails with lots of dogs. There is a huge children's playground located at…read morethe park. Depending on the day and time it can either be super crowded and over run with cursing children without adults. We almost witnessed 9 years olds getting into a physical fight. The park is so large and has so much potential it is just not well kept or monitored.

Wonderful break for my kiddos as we were driving cross country! 20 minutes off my route I- 64 BUT…read morethis place was quite AMAZING!!! I have never seen a park quite like it! And free!!! Kudos!!!!

This park is fantastic! It is well maintained and safe for kids. There are three playgrounds…read more The bike trails are the best around! If you are hiking on the trails don't go when it's damp because they are extremely slick. Some of the rv sites are small but workable. The staff is extremely friendly and helpful. My biggest concern is the front gate. It is locked with a chain and padlock so you have to get out of your vehicle to unlock it open the gate and drive through then get back out to close it and lock it. The lock numbers are 5 font so hard to see and it sticks sometimes which is so fun when raining. I felt so vulnerable doing this after coming back from visiting family. They really need an automated gate!

I was down in Southern Indiana and took the opportunity to visit Scales Lake Park. Scales Lake Park…read morefalls under Warrick County Parks. The park offers a 66-acre lake with activities including boating (including boat rentals), camping, fishing, swimming, picnicking, and cabin rentals (both primitive and with utilities). The beach opens Memorial Day weekend and closes August 6th for this year. Admission is $3 per person on M-F and $4 on weekends. Children ages 5 and under are free. Hours are 11am-5pm weather permitting. It should be noted that flotation devices are not allowed. There are mountain biking trails. You can buy a daily pass ($3) or annual pass (General, $40), Warrick County residents ($35), Seniors ($30), and Warrick County Seniors ($25). Annual passes are good for the entire calendar year. Having checked out some of the mountain bike trails, they are generally not wheelchair friendly and since they are for mountain bikes that makes sense. Scales Lake also has a petting zoo that is included with your park admission. It's relatively small but kids will love it. Scales Lake offers events and even week-long summer camps that are surprisingly affordable. Scales Lake offers camping sites that are Class A sites with water, sewer, and electricity, Class B sites with water and electric, and Class C (primitive) sites for the more rugged outdoors person. The lake offers four two-bedroom cabins that can sleep eight persons each. One of the cabins is specifically wheelchair accessible. Pricing per night is $150 (Thursday-Saturday and holidays), $130 (Sunday-Wednesday), and there's a $65 deposit. Finally, Scales Lake also offers an event pavilion and outdoor shelter available for rentals. Scales Lake is particularly great for those who like to rough it a bit more in terms of camping, hiking, or biking. I wouldn't call it a particularly wheelchair friendly park, however, I enjoyed my visit and had no problem justifying park admission and making good use of it. As is true of many public parks, rules and policies can be fairly strict so before renting definitely review agreements. However, for Warrick Park residents in southeast Indiana this park is a definite gem.

It's a decent park nothing special but it is well kept and safe never had an issue hereread more

Gregg Park is a really nice park with a wide variety of amenities to choose from. You can tell it…read morewas a planned park because it has such a nice layout. Near the entrance on the south side of the park is a huge playground with multiple pieces for kids to play on. Visitors can simply park along the road that loops through the park so they can park near the amenity that interests them. There are horse shoes pits, pickle ball courts, a paved walking trail, a shelter and a pavilion (with its own playground), an amphitheater, and on the northwest side, Rainbow Beach swim/splash park with its own parking! And just in case that sounds crowded, there is a large green area with mature trees in the middle of the park that allows people to mill about or for kids to run and play their own games. The park is clean and well kept too! It might be nice to have some additional benches and picnic tables for those not needing to rent an entire shelter, but other than that, the park seems to have the makings of a fun day. Review #2980

What a wonderful find! We enjoyed an easy hike on the 4.3 mile Sycamore Trail (loop) and can't wait…read moreto come back to enjoy the others (see map). These trails are accessible by bike & walking - dogs also permitted on leash. There are also several of foot traffic trails throughout the park (see 2 page brochure/ map). Fishing* camping (by reservation), and day shelters/Picnic areas are also available. *permit required. Cost is reasonable for a day pass at $7 per vehicle or you can get an IN Annual State Park Pass for $50 (2021). The trails and park appeared well maintained, the park was beautiful, and we look forward to many adventures to come!

We came here on a whim to see how it was. We usually go to a different state park and this one has…read moreblown it way out of the water. The camp grounds, the family cabins, and DNR staff are so so nice. The park itself is beautiful. They are pet friendly as long as they are leashed, and you can even have them in the cabins. Will definitely be coming back.

It's a great state park for families. As far as ROMP (River of Music Party) Festival it is strongly…read moregeared toward families with young kids and elderly. ROMP is far too commercialized, camping is basic parking lot style for RV campers (we had a basketball court fully lit nearly all night behind us) unless you're VIP which honestly VIP didn't look all that great for the $$. If your someone who enjoys late night jams, camping in the woods, having an adult beverage and enjoying the wee hours of the night..... this is NOT that place. They have limited sites for RVs near the late night stage and camping area. We were forced to camp at the front of the park because staff did not allow you (first come first serve, we arrived when gates opened first day) to pick your camp spot in your designated ticket location, so we had a long walk to enjoy the late night shows. We are musicians who go to music festivals to enjoy great music and campsite jam sessions with various people. This "festival" greatly disappointed us.

Yellow Creek Park...so many memories come to mind when I think of this place. It is a great park in…read moreOwensboro. Home to the ROMP festival which takes place each summer, you won't regret going. The park is big and offers something for everybody. Several different playgrounds for the kids, a water park, several different paved and unpaved trails, a family owned orchard nearby, baseball fields, open fields, lake, frisbee golf, you name it. My personal favorite is the nature trails all the way in the back, it's about a .75 mile loop, hilly and fun. Great for dog walking, too. There are old cabins in the back you can walk through and check out, kind of fun to see. And if you attend ROMP, they have an after party/show at one of those cabins! So cool to see them utilized. Definitely check out yellow creek park if you want a nice run or walk or to entertain kids, dogs, etc.

This is a wonderful gem of nature. The preserve has about six miles worth of trails that snake…read morethrough the trees and plains, over creeks and ponds. There are benches to sit on surrounding the small lake, a little pier for fishing. I've only visited in mid-May so far but there were plenty of beautiful wildflowers on the grounds. They've got a big old gravel parking lot with plenty of parking. When I visited last May I sat on one of the benches along side the huge pond for at least two hours, listening to all the different birds, watching for turtles, snakes (yeah, they've got water snakes), and frogs/toads. The little bench was partially shaded and the fresh air and gentle breeze lulled me into such peace. I can't wait to stop by again when I'm in town!!

Absolutely beautiful! Definitely a great place to walk, take a picnic, there's even a splash pad…read morefor the kiddos! One of the trails also connects to the Culver's parking lot where you can stop by and get a sweet treat.

Maintenance is definitely well taken care of and kept up with. Trails with beautiful surprises…read morealmost around every corner. Rather a pretty waterfall or waterfalls, the sunset that you can see in the sky and it's reflection on the lake. Bridges, little creek and pebble walk path. Optional trails rather your feeling like a open and sunny walk or a more of you and nature walk being it's more natural ground and less pavement, surrounded by trees and native plants to this area. Or if you would like the best of both. The one and only negative is how expensive it is to rent the clubhouse for a few hours. Ending on a positive note there is also a huge tree house, free workout equipment, and large musicale instruments to enjoy.

Shakamak State Park is considered one of Indiana's more rustic state parks with a strong focus on…read morecamping and fishing within the park. Shakamak includes three man-made lakes within its boundaries offering 400 acres of lakes along with an aquatic center for family activities. Shakamak was dedicated on Sept. 3, 1928 with land donated by the counties of Clay, Greene, and Sullivan. It's believed the name was chosen by the park's founders and is an Indigenous word meaning "river of the long fish" meant to describe the nearby Eel River. The word is believed to be either from the Delaware (Lenape) or Kickapoo Indians. The first lake was created by stopping up a 5-foot sewer. The other two lakes were added in following years including Lake Kickapoo (30 years later). Prior to these lakes being made, there were no lakes in the area. Richard Lieber stocked the lakes with bass and began what would really make this particular park noteworthy. The Civilian Conservation Corps also helped develop the park from 1933-42. Shakamak State Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. In terms of camping, Shakamak has 8 sites with full hook-ups, 114 electric sites, 42 non-electric sites, and on Maple Loop there are 10 sites (2 are paved and accessible). There's group camping, a dumping station, and a camp store. There are also cabins - I generally find them not very accessible. Shakamak offers picnic areas w/shelters (must be reserved), a nature center, a boat launch ramp, fishing/ice fishing, hiking trails, paddleboat/rowboat/kayak rentals, a recreation building that can be rented, a tennis area, a basketball court, and a swimming pool/water slide area. Shakamak is about 3 miles southeast of Jasonville in Sullivan County. Shakamak has seven marked trails with five being labeled as moderate in difficulty. The other two, both under two miles, are considered easy, multi-use trails for hiking or biking - these two trails have no stairs and white-tailed deer have been known to be seen on them. The longest trail is just under four miles and will take you by Lake Shakamak. The multi-use trails are for the most part accessible, though you are out in nature and I generally recommend not going on trails alone. That said, I've been able to do just fine on both trails. This isn't a real touristy state park except for those who want to fish and hike. That's the real selling point here. For those needing accessibility, it's definitely possible but will involve pre-planning. As some have noted, upkeep here is somewhat hit-and-miss. It's a beautiful park, however, my experience has been it's fairly lightly staffed compared to some other parks. That said, my recent visit things were in good shape and I know DNR has been really working on our less popular parks. I tend to see Shakamak as a less appreciated park that is definitely worth a visit for nature lovers and for hikers who want a chance to see wildlife. I've never not seen wildlife on the trails here.

Shakamak is much bigger than I anticipated. My husband, dogs, and I got a lovely 4-mile hike in…read morewith great views of Lake Kickapoo, one of the three lakes. With two more lakes and six more trails to explore, it appears we'll have to make another trip in the future. I look forward to it!

This is a great asset to Evansville. This is one of the oldest old growth forests in an urban…read morecommunity. Great hiking trails along the Wabash and Erie Canal, a great nature center, and a maple syrup festival. I recommend getting the family membership.

There are two things we look for when we travel. 1) Brewhouses and 2) Parks. We found both in…read moreEvansville, 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 1 1/2 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 beautiful place.