Pinky’s Park
Managed by City Of Bethel
65 acres1.3 mi of trail
Pinky's Park Boardwalk
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, photographer not specified or unknown · Public domainBOutdoors
Outdoors in Bethel
14% of Bethel’s land is conserved: 3,929 acres
The biggest trail networks: Pinky’s Park (1.3 mi). 42% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 17 miles of mapped trail cross Bethel, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 57% of U.S. towns · #24 of 41 in Alaska. What drives it
Conserved land
14%
3,929 acres · of 45.1 sq mi of land
Trails
17 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
66 ac
11 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
42%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
12
1 beach
What kind of outdoors town is Bethel?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bethel have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bethel is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #24 of 41 in Alaska. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bethel’s overall grade.
Conserved land14% of the land · typical AK town 15% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (17 mi) · AK 0.5 · U.S. 0.4BPark land11 acres of park per 1,000 residents (66 acres) · AK 15 · U.S. 13B−Parks close to home42% of residents within a half mile of a park · AK 36% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 57%
LessMore
Alaska towns of 2,500+ (41)Ahead of 42%
Alaska towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so Bethel’s 14% is ahead of 42% of Alaska towns, while its trails per square mile lead 48% of them.
Water is 10% of Bethel’s area (5 of 50 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 12%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Pinky’s Park, with 1.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Owl Park
Managed by Alaska Village Council Presidents Regional Housing Authority
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
3,929 conserved acres
14% of Bethel’s land. Water is left out: Bethel has 45.1 square miles of land and 5.0 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Bethel’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service7,813 ac
County13 ac
Bureau of Land Management2 ac
National Wildlife Refuge · 7,804 acLocal Park · 13 acFederal Other or Unknown · 9 acNational Public Lands · 2 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 7,801 | Restricted |
| Pinky'S Park Local Park | County | 13 | Open |
| Bethel Administrative Site Federal Other or Unknown | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 12 | Restricted |
| Anchorage Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 2 | Open |
Things to do
4 places to go in Bethel
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Bethel
Lomack Beach
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Bethel
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Community gardens in Bethel
Bethel Community Garden
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail and 12 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 9.3 mi
Pinky's Park Boardwalk1.3 mi
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
2Basketball
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
First Mission HouseBuilding · listed 1990
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Bethel: June and July
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 6.5 | 8.9 | 11.6 | 14.5 | 17.3 | 19.1 | 18.3 | 15.7 | 12.8 | 9.9 | 7.2 | 5.6 |
| High (°F) | 13 | 20 | 22 | 37 | 52 | 62 | 64 | 61 | 53 | 38 | 24 | 16 |
| Rain (in) | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.1 |
March is the driest month (0.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 64 °F). 3.4 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Bethel →
Questions about parks and trails in Bethel
Where can I hike in Bethel?
The longest trail networks: Pinky’s Park, 1.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Bethel is conserved land?
14% of its land, against a typical 15% for an Alaska town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Bethel’s trails?
Pinky’s Park and Owl Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Bethel?
68 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bethel or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 68 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Bethel have?
Ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #24 of 41 in Alaska. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Bethel neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →