Photo: Cobun Keegan · CC BY-SA 3.06% of Paonia’s land is conserved: 33 acres
2.2 miles of mapped trail cross Paonia, 2.7 per square mile of land. 87% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 10 acres are parks and preserves, 5.8 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 75% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Paonia?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Paonia have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Paonia is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
Colorado towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 7%; the U.S., 4%), so Paonia’s 6% is ahead of 48% of Colorado towns, while its trails per square mile lead 81% of them.
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.
33 conserved acres
6% of Paonia’s land. Who manages Paonia’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 29 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunnison National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 4 | Open |
1 places to go in Paonia
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
2 named trails
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.
4 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Paonia: April to June
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) | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.5 |
| High (°F) | 40 | 45 | 56 | 64 | 74 | 86 | 91 | 88 | 80 | 67 | 52 | 40 |
| Rain (in) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1.1 |
June is the driest month (0.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 1.4 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Paonia →
Questions about parks and trails in Paonia
How much of Paonia is conserved land?
6% of its land, against a typical 7% for a Colorado town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Paonia?
85,244 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Paonia or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 14 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Paonia have?
Ahead of 75% 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 Paonia 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 →