Fort William H. Seward · Photo: Mike Quach · CC BY-SA 3.050% of Haines’ land is conserved: 4,221 acres
720 acres are parks and preserves, 409 per 1,000 residents. 12 miles of mapped trail cross Haines, 0.9 per square mile of land. 43% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Haines?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Haines have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Haines is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
Alaska towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so Haines’ 50% is ahead of 78% of Alaska towns, while its trails per square mile lead 73% of them.
Water is 36% of Haines’ area (7 of 21 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 32%.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
4,221 conserved acres
50% of Haines’ land. Water is left out: Haines has 13.3 square miles of land and 7.4 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Haines’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 6 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haines State Forest Resource Management Area State Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 3,317 | Open |
| Chilkat State Park State Park | State natural resources | 716 | Open |
| Native Allotment Native American Land Area | State natural resources | 111 | Unknown |
| State Patented State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 50 | Unknown |
| State Land Disposals - Other Than Municipal State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 26 | Unknown |
| Glennallen Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 1 | Open |
9 places to go in Haines
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
2 boat launches without a name on the map.
2 scenic views without a name on the map.
8 named trails and 1 lakes & rivers
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
3 places on the National Register, one a National Historic Landmark
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
The best walking months in Haines: June to August
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) | 6.9 | 9.1 | 11.6 | 14.4 | 16.9 | 18.5 | 17.9 | 15.5 | 12.7 | 10.0 | 7.5 | 6.1 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 32 | 37 | 48 | 59 | 64 | 65 | 63 | 56 | 46 | 35 | 30 |
| Rain (in) | 7.0 | 5.6 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 3.7 | 6.8 | 8.5 | 7.8 | 9.8 |
July is the driest month (1.8 in) and the warmest (highs of 65 °F). 9.8 inches fall in December, the wettest month. The climate in Haines →
Haines and its neighbors
Haines has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haines | 50% | 0.9 | 409 | 43% | A |
| Lutak | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Mud Bay | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Haines
How much of Haines is conserved land?
50% 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.
Is there public land near Haines?
181,057 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Haines or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 2,095 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Haines have?
Ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. 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 Haines neighbors.
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 →