Governor Nelson is a short drive north around Mendota and features hiking trails, a beach, a pet swimming area, a pavilion and picnic tables, a boat launch, and an accessible fishing pier. The park feels on the small side, but is a nice spot to have so close to town.
On our visit, we started on the accessible fishing pier. The upside is that it juts out past the rock and seaweed for the most part, but it's on the small side and is absolutely covered in spider webs. Yuck. We then tried our luck on the newer-looking pier next to the boat launch. There's a built in bench and it's much cleaner, but you get snagged in the seaweed and have to contend with boats coming and going. It was a particularly windy day so the fish weren't biting in general, but we did see another gentleman snag a good-sized bass right when we arrived. As a novice fisher I did appreciate that the accessible pier had the lake's size and catch limits for the most common fish posted.
After we abandoned our attempt to fish, we headed out to the Woodland hiking trail. On the map it was marked as difficult and had an icon with two little mountain peaks so I asked the person at the toll booth how difficult it was. She looked at me like I was crazy and assured me it had wood chips that were easier to grip than grass. After getting on the trail, I understood why she was baffled about me inquiring about the difficulty. There are some inclines and declines, but it's essentially a casual stroll down a manicured path. On a wet day it might be a bit treacherous if it turns to mud, or if you have mobility issues, but even the most casual of hikers like myself should be able to manage it without trouble. We chose the Woodland trail to check out the effigy mounds, but the natural growth had completely covered them and I couldn't personally make out where they were except in the general sense that they were directly in front of me and behind the posted sign.
Bathrooms were clean enough. The picnic area bathroom has multiple stalls but only one sink. The boat launch bathroom has two single-use rooms. Both feature flush toilets.
A vehicle day pass for the park in 2017 is $8; annual is $28.
I wouldn't make Governor Nelson a hiking or fishing destination, but if you're just looking to spend the day outside with Madison skyline views, or want a park that almost anyone can enjoy (including your pets), it's not a bad choice. read more