Photo: Malcolm Manners · CC BY 2.0Few parks or trails are on the map in South Lakes
15% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.9 miles of mapped trail cross South Lakes, 0.1 per square mile of land. 38 acres are parks and preserves, 6.1 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 12% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does South Lakes have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, South Lakes is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; park acres per resident come closest.
Alaska towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so South Lakes’ under 1% is ahead of 1% of Alaska towns, while its trails per square mile lead 10% of them.
Water is 6% of South Lakes’ area (0 of 8 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read under 1%.
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.
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
1 conserved acres
under 1% of South Lakes’ land. Water is left out: South Lakes has 7.8 square miles of land and 0.5 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages South Lakes’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteer Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
5 places to go in South Lakes
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
5 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
3 lakes & rivers
11 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.
The best walking months in South Lakes: May 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) | 6.2 | 8.8 | 11.5 | 14.6 | 17.5 | 19.5 | 18.6 | 15.9 | 12.8 | 9.8 | 7.0 | 5.4 |
| High (°F) | 23 | 29 | 34 | 48 | 59 | 66 | 68 | 65 | 57 | 43 | 29 | 25 |
| Rain (in) | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.0 |
April is the driest month (0.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 68 °F). 2.5 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in South Lakes →
South Lakes and its neighbors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Lakes | under 1% | 0.1 | 6 | 15% | D |
| North Lakes | 7% | 0.2 | 13 | 52% | B− |
| Gateway | 11% | 2.4 | 81 | 34% | A− |
| Wasilla | 3% | 0.1 | 32 | 60% | B− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in South Lakes
How much of South Lakes is conserved land?
under 1% 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 South Lakes’ trails?
Cottonwood Creek Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in South Lakes?
11 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.6 of painted or protected lanes and 9.7 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near South Lakes?
27,559 acres of parks and open public land lie inside South Lakes or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 38 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does South Lakes have?
Ahead of 12% 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 South Lakes 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 →