Governor Nelson State Park: WGA State Park Series
Geocache Description:
Welcome Governor Nelson State Park. This geocache has been hidden as a part of Wisconsin Geocaching Association’s State Park series. The geocache is hidden on the Redtrail Hawk Trail.
Governor Nelson State Park
Governor Nelson State Park was established in 1975 located on the shore of Lake Mendota. Governor Nelson State Park is named after Governor Gaylord Nelson. Governor Nelson offers 422 acres day use park. The park has a variety of things to offer like 6.5 miles of hiking trails, 470 foot sand shore line, solar-heated showers, boat launch, fishing, picnic area with playground equipment, prairie restoration, and two scenic overlooks.
The hiking trails are only available spring, summer, and fall, but turn into cross-country ski trails in the winter. Cache is only available during spring, summer, and fall when trails are open for hiking. While hiking on the trails you could walk through oak woodland, oak savanna, mesic prairie, and wet prairie. On any given day you could see a variety of animals. While hiking on the trails, you may notice that some restoration work is being done. This area used to be dominated by prairies and oak savannas. Now there is very little that exist, so they are in the process to show the public what it used to look like and by doing that is the restoration project which is going to take a long time.
The beach is open memorial day through labor day in a designated swimming area. There are no lifeguards on duty. After a fun day of swimming, you can use their facilities to wash up from the swimming. If you are not a swimmer, but still enjoy the water you could do some fishing. There is a pier that is right next to the boat launch. Lake Mendota is open year round for fishing. Or if you just want to relax bring a chair or a towel and relax on the pier.
Southern Savannah Biome
This region, the bottom middle of the state, is characterized by remnants of the once predominant oak savanna biome. A savannah will have a low plant density, allowing for grassland development under the open canopy of forest dominated by oak. These landscapes are often described as “park like” due to their open appearance and with development, are disappearing from their original boundaries. Red-Headed Woodpeckers and Wild Turkey are birds that depend on this kind of biome, and of course Whitetail Deer are seen throughout the area, as are raccoons, squirrels and small rodents.
WISCONSIN GEOCACHING ASSOCIATION
The Wisconsin Geocaching Association (WGA) is a group of geocachers dedicated to promoting and protecting geocaching within the state of Wisconsin. The WGA organizes geocaching events, works with land owners/managers on geocaching policies, educates the public at large about geocaching, and facilitates communication between WGA members. To learn more about the WGA visit: www.wi-geocaching.com
2013 kicks off the beginning of the Wisconsin Geocaching Association State Parks series. It is our goal to place a geocache in every state park in the state of Wisconsin so watch out for more in this series that encourages geocachers to explore the natural resources in this beautiful state of ours.
The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to Rene' Lee of the Wisconsin DNR. Geocaches placed on Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource managed lands require permission by means of a notification form.
This a WGA STATE PARK SERIES geocache: