Mosquito Hill Nature Center in New London: A Warm Late-Summer Walk

Some places have a name you’ve heard so many times that you just assume you’ve already been there. Mosquito Hill Nature Center was like that for me. The name has been floating around the back of my head for years, the way local landmarks do when you live in the Fox Valley. But when I finally pulled into the lot on Sunday morning, I’m pretty sure it was the first time I’d ever actually set foot on the place.

It sits just east of New London, and it was easy to find. I punched it into Google Maps and it took me right to the door. There’s a big parking lot with plenty of room, and the nature center building is right at the front with restrooms inside, which is exactly what you want before a walk.

Here’s the part I always like to lead with: it’s free. No admission, no parking fee, no gate. Outagamie County runs it, and you can just show up and walk. In a world where more and more places want a few dollars from you at the door, a well-kept nature center that doesn’t charge a thing is worth pointing out.

About that name

Despite being called Mosquito Hill, I counted maybe a handful of mosquitoes the whole time I was there. Turns out that’s fitting. The story I read goes back to the 1800s, when loggers were floating timber down the Wolf River. As the legend has it, they made a bet one day about the bugs on top of the hill, and on that particular day there weren’t any up there. The name stuck, more for the lack of mosquitoes than the swarms of them. (A while back somebody floated renaming the place Wolf Peak Nature Park, and it got voted down. Good. Mosquito Hill it is.)

The walk

I stopped at the map to get my bearings. There’s everything from a paved, accessible loop they call the All People’s Trail to grass paths, woodland trails, and the climb up to the overlook at the top of Mosquito Hill itself, which is one of the higher points around here. I only walked part of it, and that’s the nice thing about a place like this. You can do a short, easy loop or make a real hike out of it, whichever kind of day you’re having.

The trails were nicely groomed. Some stretches are mowed grass, some duck into the woods, and some are paved. It was a warm, late-summer day with a gentle breeze moving through the grass, which kept things comfortable and, I suspect, kept the bugs down too. Just a pleasant morning to be outside and not in a hurry.

The woods were full of little details like that. Clusters of red berries over the trail, seed heads going brown, and then, down in the grass, a single cardinal flower. That’s a red you just don’t see much of in the wild, and it stops you in your tracks when you come across one.

The prairie sections were the real show, though. Big drifts of black-eyed Susans, thick enough that you catch the yellow from a good distance off.

And plenty of coneflowers mixed in, going a little ragged the way they do by mid-August. Past their peak, sure, but I think they’re almost prettier at this stage, when the petals start to droop and the centers stand up like little crowns.

The land here borders the Wolf River, and it holds one of the last intact stands of bottomland hardwood forest left on the river. There were birds calling the whole time I walked. I’m no birder, but this is apparently a well-known spot for it, and I can see why. Water, woods, and prairie all butting up against each other tends to bring in a little of everything.

The nature center itself

The building at the front is worth a look on its own. It’s a good-sized interpretive center with natural history exhibits, a gift shop, classrooms, and a library, and they run programs and seasonal events through the year. They’ve also got a butterfly house, a screened garden they open a few days a week in the summer. The place opened back in 1974, so it’s been at this for more than fifty years now, and it shows in how well kept everything is.

If you’re looking for an easy, free place to stretch your legs and catch some late-summer color, Mosquito Hill is an easy one to recommend. I walked maybe a fraction of what’s out there, and I already want to go back and do the overlook loop. I’ll take the breeze and the handful of mosquitoes any day.

If you go

• Where: Mosquito Hill Nature Center, N3880 Rogers Road, New London, WI (just east of town, in Outagamie County)
• Cost: Free. No admission and no parking fee.
• Trails: About five miles across 441 acres, including a paved accessible loop and the climb up to the overlook
• Good to know: Big parking lot, restrooms in the nature center at the front, open year round, and easy to find with Google Maps

I’ve been on a bit of a local-walks kick lately. If you like this sort of thing, I also wrote up Heckrodt Wetland Reserve in Menasha, the prairie at Conservancy Park in Neenah, and a warm afternoon at Horicon Marsh.