Manzanita County Park
Park
480 acres7.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Calbear22 · Public domainB+Outdoors
Outdoors in Prunedale
Prunedale has 881 acres of parks, 45 for every 1,000 residents
10% of Prunedale’s land is conserved, about 2,965 acres. The biggest trail networks: Manzanita County Park (7.5 mi). 34 miles of mapped trail cross Prunedale, 0.7 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 74% of U.S. towns · #325 of 847 in California. What drives it
Conserved land
10%
2,965 acres · of 46.1 sq mi of land
Trails
34 mi
0.7 per sq mi of land
Park land
881 ac
45 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
39%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.5 mi
1.8 mi lanes · 1.6 mi paths
Highest peak
226 ft
Schneider Hill
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Prunedale?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Prunedale have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Prunedale is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #325 of 847 in California. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Prunedale’s overall grade.
Conserved land10% of the land · typical CA town 4% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.7 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (34 mi) · CA 0.9 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land45 acres of park per 1,000 residents (881 acres) · CA 5 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home39% of residents within a half mile of a park · CA 91% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 74%
LessMore
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 62%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ 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
The longest trail network is Manzanita County Park, with 7.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Kirby Park
Managed by Elkhorn Slough Foundation
4 acres
Dogs on leash
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Little Acorn Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
2,965 conserved acres
10% of Prunedale’s land. Who manages Prunedale’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits2,074 ac
County601 ac
State fish & wildlife340 ac
Regional agency4 ac
Private Conservation · 2,038 acLocal Park · 597 acState Conservation Area · 340 acUnknown Easement · 37 acLocal Conservation Area · 4 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 37 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocks Ranch Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 1,382 | Closed |
| Manzanita Regional Park Local Park | County | 478 | Open |
| Elkhorn Slough / Elkhorn Highlands Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 384 | Closed |
| Elkhorn Slough Ecological Reserve State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 259 | Open |
| Elkhorn Slough / Long Valley - ESF Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 248 | Closed |
| Royal Oaks Park Local Park | County | 119 | Open |
| Kirby Park State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 54 | Open |
| Elkhorn Slough Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 29 | Closed |
| Moro Cojo Ecological Reserve State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 27 | Restricted |
| Unknown park - North County Recreation and Park District Local Other or Unknown | Regional agency | 4 | Open |
Things to do
10 places to go in Prunedale
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Prunedale
6 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
3.5 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.8 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
1.6 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
9Baseball
5Tennis
3Basketball
3Equestrian
1Football
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Prunedale: April 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) | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.7 | 14.4 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.1 | 9.6 |
| High (°F) | 62 | 63 | 65 | 68 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 75 | 67 | 61 |
| Rain (in) | 4.4 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 4.1 |
July is the driest month (under 0.1 in) and September the warmest (highs of 77 °F). 4.4 inches fall in January, the wettest month. The climate in Prunedale →
Next door
Prunedale and its neighbors
Prunedale has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Prunedale
Where can I hike in Prunedale?
The longest trail networks: Manzanita County Park, 7.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Prunedale is conserved land?
10% 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 Prunedale’s trails?
OpenStreetMap records dogs as welcome at Kirby Park (on leash). For the rest, check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Prunedale?
3.5 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.8 of painted or protected lanes and 1.6 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Prunedale?
15,752 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Prunedale or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 881 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Prunedale have?
Ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #325 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 Prunedale 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 →