Friendship Forest Nature Preserve
Managed by City of Clarkston
28 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: City of Clarkston Government · CC BY-SA 4.0B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Clarkston
Clarkston has 58 acres of parks, 4.0 for every 1,000 residents
89% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.3 miles of mapped trail cross Clarkston, 0.2 per square mile of land. 4% of Clarkston’s land is conserved, about 54 acres.
Ahead of 47% of U.S. towns · #102 of 264 in Georgia. What drives it
Conserved land
4%
54 acres · of 1.8 sq mi of land
Trails
0.3 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
58 ac
4.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
89%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.4 mi
0.3 mi lanes · 2.1 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Clarkston?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Clarkston have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Clarkston is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns, #102 of 264 in Georgia. 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 Clarkston’s overall grade.
Conserved land4% of the land · typical GA town 2% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · GA 0.2 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land4.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (58 acres) · GA 9 · U.S. 13CParks close to home89% of residents within a half mile of a park · GA 56% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 47%
LessMore
Georgia towns of 2,500+ (264)Ahead of 62%
Few Georgia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Clarkston’s 4% is ahead of 78% of Georgia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 43% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B. 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 Friendship Forest Nature Preserve, with 0.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
54 conserved acres
4% of Clarkston’s land. Who manages Clarkston’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city42 ac
County16 ac
Local Conservation Area · 39 acLocal Park · 12 acLocal Recreation Area · 7 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friendship Forest Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 30 | Open |
| Milam Park Local Park | Town or city | 12 | Open |
| Forty Oaks Nature Preserve Local Conservation Area | County | 9 | Open |
| Greenspace Program Acquisition Local Recreation Area | County | 3 | Open |
| DeKalb County Greenspace Local Recreation Area | County | 3 | Open |
Things to do
8 places to go in Clarkston
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Clarkston
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Dog parks in Clarkston
2 dog parks without a name on the map.
Community gardens in Clarkston
Clarkston Community Garden
DirectionsClarkston International GardenIn Forty Oaks
DirectionsBiking & sports
2.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.3 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
2.1 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
8Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Clarkston: 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) | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 14.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 9.9 |
| High (°F) | 53 | 57 | 65 | 73 | 80 | 86 | 89 | 88 | 83 | 73 | 63 | 55 |
| Rain (in) | 4.8 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.7 |
October is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 5.0 inches fall in March, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Clarkston →
Next door
Clarkston and its neighbors
Clarkston has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Clarkston
Where can I hike in Clarkston?
The longest trail networks: Friendship Forest Nature Preserve, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Clarkston is conserved land?
4% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Georgia town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Clarkston’s trails?
Friendship Forest Nature Preserve and Milam Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Clarkston?
2.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.3 of painted or protected lanes and 2.1 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Clarkston?
11,890 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Clarkston or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 58 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Clarkston have?
Ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #102 of 264 in Georgia. 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 Clarkston 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 →