Jack Smith Marina
Managed by City of Needles
9 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Needles
50% of Needles’ land is conserved: 9,781 acres
38 miles of mapped trail cross Needles, 1.2 per square mile of land. 82 acres are parks and preserves, 17 per 1,000 residents. 73% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 88% of U.S. towns · #201 of 847 in California. What drives it
Conserved land
50%
9,781 acres · of 30.6 sq mi of land
Trails
38 mi
1.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
82 ac
17 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
73%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
1 beach · 19 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Needles?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Needles have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Needles is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns, #201 of 847 in California. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; conserved land ranks highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Needles’ overall grade.
Conserved land50% of the land · typical CA town 4% · U.S. 4%A+Trails1.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (38 mi) · CA 0.9 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land17 acres of park per 1,000 residents (82 acres) · CA 5 · U.S. 13BParks close to home73% of residents within a half mile of a park · CA 91% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 88%
LessMore
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 76%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. 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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Jo Jo Garcia Memorial Sports Complex
Managed by City of Needles
7 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Duke Watkins Park
Managed by City of Needles
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 11 parks & preserves
Jack Smith Marina9 acres · City of Needles
DirectionsJo Jo Garcia Memorial Sports Complex7 acres · City of Needles
Duke Watkins Park6 acres · City of Needles
Ed Parry Park6 acres · City of Needles
DirectionsJack Smith Memorial Park4 acres · City of Needles
DirectionsBob Belt's Beach Park4 acres · City of Needles
Manny Morris Park1 acres · City of Needles
Train Park1 acres · City of Needles
DirectionsNeedles Municipal Aquatics Center1 acres
Santa Fe Park1 acres
DirectionsNeedles Housing Authority Park1 acres
Who protects it
9,781 conserved acres
50% of Needles’ land. Who manages Needles’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Bureau of Land Management8,974 ac
State Department of Land561 ac
Town or city233 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service25 ac
National Public Lands · 8,974 acState Resource Management Area · 561 acLocal Recreation Area · 144 acLocal Park · 75 acFederal Other or Unknown · 18 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needles Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 6,376 | Open |
| Lake Havasu Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 2,598 | Open |
| California State Lands Commission State Resource Management Area | State Department of Land | 561 | Open |
| River's Edge Golf Course Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 144 | Restricted |
| Jack Smith Memorial Park Local Park | Town or city | 37 | Open |
| Havasu National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 25 | Restricted |
| Needles Riverview Cemetery Local Historic or Cultural Area | Town or city | 14 | Open |
| Jack Smith Park Local Park | Town or city | 10 | Open |
| Duke Watkins Park Local Park | Town or city | 8 | Open |
| Nikki Bunch-Franz Flowers Park Local Park | Town or city | 7 | Open |
3 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
26 places to go in Needles
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Needles
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Playgrounds in Needles
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Dog parks in Needles
Small Dog ParkIn Duke Watkins Park
DirectionsSpike's Desert Dog ParkIn Duke Watkins Park
DirectionsBoat launches in Needles
19 boat launches without a name on the map.
Trails & water
2 named trails and 1 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 22.4 mi
National Old Trails Highway0.9 mi
HN15H0.3 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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
6Baseball
3Basketball
2Softball
1Skate park
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). The map also marks 2 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
El GarcesBuilding · listed 2002
About itWhen to get out
The walking year in Needles
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) | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.3 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 65 | 70 | 78 | 86 | 95 | 106 | 110 | 109 | 102 | 89 | 75 | 64 |
| Rain (in) | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
June is the driest month (under 0.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 110 °F). 0.7 inches fall in February, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 110 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Needles →
Questions about parks and trails in Needles
How much of Needles is conserved land?
50% of its land, against a typical 4% for a California town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Needles’ trails?
Jack Smith Marina and Jo Jo Garcia Memorial Sports Complex don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Needles?
89,866 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Needles or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 9,627 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Needles have?
Ahead of 88% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #201 of 847 in California. 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 Needles 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 →