Facilities

Sodalis Nature Preserve is a 200-acre park property that was given to the city to preserve endangered bats. It is now Hannibal’s second-largest park.

Access to the Nature Preserve will be available off Ely Street, south of the Dempsey Dog Park and Bear Creek, 819 Ely St. A trailhead and parking lot are there, connecting it to the Bear Creek Trail ending at Ely Street.

Only non-motorized recreational activity is allowed, such as hiking, running and biking. The almost 2-mile loop trail is fully paved.

The Conservation Fund, a non-profit group that protects properties for wildlife, recreation and/or historic significance, purchased the land through mitigation funds from the Canadian company Enbridge Inc.

More than 211,000 federally endangered Indiana bats hibernate in a former limestone mine that closed a half-century ago and in the cave network nearby.