Sandhofer Open Space
Park
11 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Welby
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Welby
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. The biggest trail networks: Sandhofer Open Space (0.5 mi). 2.0 miles of mapped trail cross Welby, 0.5 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns · #106 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
Conserved land
4%
102 acres · of 3.7 sq mi of land
Trails
2.0 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
112 ac
6.9 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
7.9 mi
0.2 mi lanes · 7.7 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Welby?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Welby have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Welby is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #106 of 159 in Colorado. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Welby’s overall grade.
Conserved land4% of the land · typical CO town 7% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · CO 1.3 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land6.9 acres of park per 1,000 residents (112 acres) · CO 14 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · CO 97% · U.S. 72%A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 70%
LessMore
Colorado towns of 2,500+ (159)Ahead of 34%
Colorado towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 7%; the U.S., 4%), so Welby’s 4% is ahead of 38% of Colorado towns, while its trails per square mile lead 20% of them.
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 Sandhofer Open Space, with 0.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
City View Park
Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
102 conserved acres
4% of Welby’s land. Who manages Welby’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County100 ac
Town or city1 ac
State parks1 ac
Local Park · 47 acLocal Other or Unknown · 26 acLocal Recreation Area · 24 acLocal Conservation Area · 5 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 14 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rotella Park Local Park | County | 39 | Open |
| Sandhofer Open Space Local Other or Unknown | County | 11 | Unknown |
| Niver Creek Trail Local Recreation Area | County | 9 | Unknown |
| Coronado Greenway Local Recreation Area | County | 9 | Open |
| Clear Creek Park Local Other or Unknown | County | 7 | Open |
| City View Park Local Park | County | 7 | Open |
| Clear Creek Trail Local Other or Unknown | County | 6 | Open |
| Steele Street Park Trailhead Local Recreation Area | County | 4 | Open |
| Lower Creek Canal Greenway Local Conservation Area | County | 3 | Open |
| Coronado Parkway Local Recreation Area | County | 2 | Open |
3 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
7 places to go in Welby
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Welby
7 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
7.9 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.2 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
7.7 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
4Basketball
1Beach volleyball
1Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Welby: 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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.0 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 9.9 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 46 | 48 | 57 | 63 | 72 | 84 | 89 | 87 | 79 | 66 | 54 | 46 |
| Rain (in) | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
January is the driest month (0.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 2.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Welby →
Next door
Welby and its neighbors
Welby has the second most mapped trails of the 5 towns around it. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welby | 4% | 0.5 | 7 | 99%+ | B+ |
| Thornton | 11% | 1.0 | 18 | 98% | A |
| North Washington | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Sherrelwood | 3% | 0.3 | 4 | 92% | B− |
| Twin Lakes | 6% | 1.1 | 9 | 99%+ | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Welby
Where can I hike in Welby?
The longest trail networks: Sandhofer Open Space, 0.5 miles; Rotella Park, 0.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Welby is conserved land?
4% 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.
Are dogs allowed on Welby’s trails?
Sandhofer Open Space and Rotella Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Welby?
7.9 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.2 of painted or protected lanes and 7.7 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Welby?
21,262 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Welby or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 112 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Welby have?
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #106 of 159 in Colorado. 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 Welby 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 →