Becks Pond County Park
Managed by New Castle County, Delaware
9 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Bear
14% of Bear’s land is conserved: 531 acres
91% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 93 acres are parks and preserves, 4.2 per 1,000 residents. 1.3 miles of mapped trail cross Bear, 0.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 61% of U.S. towns · #26 of 37 in Delaware. What drives it
Conserved land
14%
531 acres · of 5.8 sq mi of land
Trails
1.3 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
93 ac
4.2 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
91%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.6 mi
2.5 mi lanes
Lakes & rivers
2
What kind of outdoors town is Bear?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bear have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bear is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #26 of 37 in Delaware. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bear’s overall grade.
Conserved land14% of the land · typical DE town 13% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · DE 0.4 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land4.2 acres of park per 1,000 residents (93 acres) · DE 10 · U.S. 13CParks close to home91% of residents within a half mile of a park · DE 85% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 61%
LessMore
Delaware towns of 2,500+ (37)Ahead of 31%
Delaware towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 13%; the U.S., 4%), so Bear’s 14% is ahead of 53% of Delaware towns, while its trails per square mile lead 33% 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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Kings Croft Park
Managed by New Castle County, Delaware
7 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Wellington Woods Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Forest Knoll at Wellington Woods Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 5 parks & preserves
Becks Pond County Park9 acres · New Castle County, Delaware
DirectionsKings Croft Park7 acres · New Castle County, Delaware
DirectionsWellington Woods Park1 acres
Forest Knoll at Wellington Woods Park1 acres
Garwood Park1 acres · New Castle County, Delaware
Who protects it
531 conserved acres
14% of Bear’s land. Who manages Bear’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County363 ac
State fish & wildlife9 ac
Private owners8 ac
Other state land5 ac
Not recorded145 ac
Private Conservation · 369 acLocal Other or Unknown · 90 acResearch or Educational Area · 32 acLocal Park · 25 acState Other or Unknown · 14 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 42 of 48 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Village of Fox Meadow Private Conservation | County | 84 | Unknown |
| Meridian Crossing Private Conservation | County | 70 | Unknown |
| Wellington Woods Park Private Conservation | County | 40 | Unknown |
| Rutledge Private Conservation | County | 37 | Unknown |
| Brookmont Farms Private Conservation | County | 35 | Unknown |
| Saint Andrews Private Conservation | County | 35 | Unknown |
| Glasgow Pines Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 24 | Unknown |
| Becks Pond State Other or Unknown | State fish & wildlife | 20 | Open |
| Porter Road Elementary School Research or Educational Area | Not recorded | 18 | Unknown |
| Country Woods Private Conservation | County | 16 | Unknown |
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
8 places to go in Bear
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Bear
Glasgow Pines Park
DirectionsRockwood Playground
DirectionsPlus 6 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
2.6 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.5 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
0.1 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
3Basketball
3Tennis
2Baseball
1Volleyball
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Bear: April, May and 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) | 9.7 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 15.0 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 9.9 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 41 | 44 | 53 | 65 | 74 | 82 | 87 | 85 | 79 | 67 | 56 | 46 |
| Rain (in) | 3.3 | 2.9 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 3.3 | 4.1 |
February is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 4.6 inches fall in June, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Bear →
Questions about parks and trails in Bear
How much of Bear is conserved land?
14% of its land, against a typical 13% for a Delaware town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Bear’s trails?
Becks Pond County Park and Kings Croft Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Bear?
2.6 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.5 of painted or protected lanes and 0.1 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near Bear?
25,271 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bear or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 102 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Bear have?
Ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #26 of 37 in Delaware. 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 Bear 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 →