First pick
Fort Simpson Territorial Park
Park or garden
9.7 ha
5.7 km northfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: sfbnurse https://www.flickr.com/people/sfbnurse/ · CC BY 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Fort Simpson · parks, protected land & trails
No protected area lies within 10 km of Fort Simpson
There is no national park within 100 km of the town. One unnamed beach is mapped within 5 km.
Protected land
0%
of the land within 10 km
Typical Canadian town: 2.3%
Protected areas
0
within 10 km, 0 public
Typical Canadian town: 14
Beaches
1
within 5 km (OpenStreetMap)
Against other towns
Each figure for Fort Simpson, set against Canadian towns
Each figure against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (not city hubs or reserves), with the town marked and the typical one’s line. No letter: the outdoors is described for Canadian towns, not graded.
Protected within 10 km0%Share of the land and water within 10 km of the town’s edge in a protected or conserved area
Protected in town0%Share of the town’s own area in a protected or conserved area
Public protected areas0Areas within 10 km held by a government or an Indigenous nation
Walking routes0Named OpenStreetMap walking and hiking routes with 300 m+ within 2 km
Beaches1Beaches mapped on OpenStreetMap within 5 km
CPCAD 2.9.0 (ECCC, 2026), OpenStreetMap (November 2026). Distances from the town’s outline.
Towns its size
Fort Simpson has the least protected land nearby of 40 towns its size
The 40 Canadian towns nearest in population (1,330 to 2,587 residents), by the share of the land within 10 km that is protected. Hover for each one’s figures; click for its page.
Protected within 10 km
Fort Simpson0%
Towns its size1.4%
Typical Canadian town2.3%
Public protected areas
Fort Simpson0
Towns its size3
Typical Canadian town4
Walking routes
Fort Simpson0
Towns its size0
Typical Canadian town0
Against towns its size, Fort Simpson is weakest for public protected areas: 33 of 39 have more.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Protected within 10 km | In town | Areas | Routes | Beaches | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anmore BC | 22% | 47% | 16 | 5 | 98 |
| 2 | Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska QC | 19% | 0% | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Gracefield QC | 19% | 19% | 34 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | East Preston NS | 16% | 6.3% | 20 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Clearwater BC | 7.7% | 4.1% | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Roberval QC | 6.1% | 1.2% | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague QC | 5.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | North Frontenac ON | 5.7% | 5.2% | 13 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | Cap-Chat QC | 5.3% | 0.4% | 13 | 0 | 10 |
| 10 | Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards ON | 4.4% | 1.5% | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Saint-Polycarpe QC | 4.2% | 0% | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Macassa ON | 4.1% | 0% | 18 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Saint-Damien QC | 4% | 3.2% | 22 | 1 | 9 |
| 14 | Unity SK | 3.4% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Sherwood ON | 3.4% | 0% | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 | McNab SK | 2.6% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Mandeville QC | 2.5% | 1.8% | 19 | 4 | 7 |
| 18 | Esterhazy SK | 1.8% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | City Commercial Core ON | 1.8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Caswell Hill SK | 1.4% | 0% | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 | Fossambault-sur-le-Lac QC | 1.3% | 7.8% | 15 | 0 | 14 |
| 22 | Pembina MB | 1.1% | 1.8% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Burrows-Keewatin MB | 1% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Elmwood AB | 0.8% | 0% | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | Hatley QC | 0.7% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 5 |
| 26 | Munroe West MB | 0.4% | 0% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Brooke-Alvinston ON | 0.3% | 0.2% | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Rosedale AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 29 | Minchau AB | 0.3% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 30 | Lunenburg NS | 0.1% | 0% | 19 | 0 | 5 |
| 31 | Salisbury NB | 0.1% | 2.1% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Dufferin MB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Ekota AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 34 | Satoo AB | 0.1% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 35 | Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce QC | 0% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 36 | Magrath AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Nanton AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Rimbey AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | Sexsmith AB | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | Fort Simpson NT | 0% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 1 |
The map
Fort Simpson on the map: green space, protected land and paths
The town’s parks, woods, protected land and paths, with its named places numbered.
Green: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, playing fields and woods. Hatched: CPCAD protected areas.© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); CPCAD (OGL-Canada)
Places to walk
A named park or wood to walk in near Fort Simpson
Fort Simpson Territorial Park is the largest, at 9.7 ha; the rest follow by size, numbered as on the map.
Source: OpenStreetMap parks, gardens, commons and woods with a name, in the town or within 400 m, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Sizes are the mapped outline’s.
Close to home
In Fort Simpson, parks are rarely a short walk away
Residents of each 2021 dissemination area, at a point inside it, within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of a park or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap.
Within 400 m (0%)Further (100%)
Fort Simpson0%
Typical Canadian town83%
Around 1,300 residents are further than 400 m from a park. For comparison, the typical Canadian town has 83%.
Protected areas
There is no protected land within 10 km of Fort Simpson
Every protected and conserved area in CPCAD within 10 km of the town’s edge: parks, reserves, wildlife areas and conservation land.
Source: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Footpaths and woods
Paths to walk: 7 km in and around Fort Simpson
OpenStreetMap footpaths, paths, bridleways and steps, and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it; woods as mapped (landuse=forest, natural=wood).
Footpaths
7.3 km
in and around the town (132 km²)
Woodland
69%
about 90.4 km² of mapped woods
Footpaths · km per km²
Fort SimpsonTowns in Northwest TerritoriesTypical Canadian town
Footpaths0.1
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
Fort SimpsonTowns in Northwest TerritoriesTypical Canadian town
Woodland69%
0%50%100%
Woods cover more of it than in 91% of Canadian towns. 92% of Canadian towns have more footpath per km².
Source: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Mapping varies by place: a dense figure can mean keen local mappers as much as many paths.
Walking routes
No named walking route passes Fort Simpson on the map
Named walking and hiking routes on OpenStreetMap with at least 300 m within 2 km of the town, longest first; national routes lead.
OpenStreetMap lists no walking route near the town, though paths on the ground may well exist.
Source: OpenStreetMap (route relations hiking, foot and walking), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Trans Canada Trail sections as OSM maps them.
When to get out
Walking season in Fort Simpson: May to August
Daylight at the town’s latitude and ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals (Fort Simpson, 6.2 km away). Good months: long days, highs of 15–30 °C, light rain.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 6.2 | 8.8 | 11.5 | 14.7 | 17.6 | 19.6 | 18.7 | 15.9 | 12.8 | 9.8 | 6.9 | 5.3 |
| High (°C) | -19 | -14 | -6 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 24 | 21 | 14 | 2 | -11 | -18 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 18 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 30 | 56 | 57 | 60 | 32 | 32 | 22 | 17 |
About 195 cm of snow falls in a year. January brings highs of -19 °C, July highs of 24 °C. The wettest month, August, brings 60 mm, against 15 mm in March. The climate in Fort Simpson →
Beaches
A beach within 5 km of Fort Simpson
Beaches on OpenStreetMap within 5 km of the town’s edge, nearest first, with directions.
No open data on beach water quality covers every province, so check with public health before a swim.
Source: OpenStreetMap (natural=beach), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Things to do
Near Fort Simpson: 3 outdoor spots on the map
Viewpoints, peaks, waterfalls, picnic sites, nature reserves, playgrounds, dog parks, campsites and boat launches mapped within 2 km of the town.
Every named place, with directions
Playgrounds 2
Plus 2 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 1
Fort Simpsonin town
DirectionsSource: OpenStreetMap (tourism, natural, waterway and leisure tags), © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Private land. Private conservation land is in the totals, not the lists. Many such areas are easements on working farms or woodlots.
- National and provincial parks. National parks are Parks Canada’s; provincial parks are the province’s or territory’s, Québec’s parcs nationaux among them.
- Protected land. Measured on CPCAD’s outlines: the part of a 10 km band around the town that lies in a protected or conserved area, water included.
- Walking routes. The list is OpenStreetMap’s, so a missing trail may just be unmapped. The Trans Canada Trail appears where OSM maps it.
- Beaches. Beaches are OpenStreetMap’s, named or not; in the north many are unnamed shoreline imports.
Questions about the outdoors in Fort Simpson
Where can you swim near Fort Simpson?
One beach is mapped within 5 km, though without a name.
What is the nearest national park to Fort Simpson?
None within 100 km of Fort Simpson.
What is the best season to get outdoors in Fort Simpson?
May to August, on the 1991–2020 normals and the daylight: long days, highs of 15 °C or more, light rain for the place.
Sources
The sources behind Fort Simpson’s outdoors figures
Protected areas: Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD) 2.9.0, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2026: every area within 10 km and the nearest national and provincial parks, measured outline to outline.
Walking routes and beaches: OpenStreetMap, November 2026: named hiking, foot and walking route relations within 2 km and beaches within 5 km.
Towns: Statistics Canada 2021 Census boundaries and populations; the comparison is the Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, not city hubs or reserves.
When to go: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, from the nearest station that publishes them.
Green space, paths, woods, things to do: OpenStreetMap (Geofabrik’s Canada extract), November 2026: parks, gardens, playing fields, woods, footpaths, the coastline and things to do in and around each town.
Residents: Statistics Canada 2021 Census dissemination areas (population, boundaries), each at a point inside it.
Walking routes and beaches © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Not on this page: trailheads and trail grades, and beach water quality. No open Canadian dataset gives these for every town yet.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).