CRNRA - Bowmans Island Unit
Managed by National Park Service
491 acres1.5 mi of trail
Dogs usually limited
Directionsto the parking lot
A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Sugar Hill
10% of Sugar Hill’s land is conserved: 750 acres
The biggest trail networks: CRNRA - Bowmans Island Unit (1.5 mi). 868 acres are parks and preserves, 33 per 1,000 residents. 8.1 miles of mapped trail cross Sugar Hill, 0.7 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 83% of U.S. towns · #13 of 264 in Georgia. What drives it
Conserved land
10%
750 acres · of 11.3 sq mi of land
Trails
8.1 mi
0.7 per sq mi of land
Park land
868 ac
33 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
78%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.8 mi
0.1 mi lanes · 0.6 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
What kind of outdoors town is Sugar Hill?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Sugar Hill have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Sugar Hill is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns, #13 of 264 in Georgia. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; conserved land ranks highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Sugar Hill’s overall grade.
Conserved land10% of the land · typical GA town 2% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.7 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (8 mi) · GA 0.2 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land33 acres of park per 1,000 residents (868 acres) · GA 9 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home78% 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 83%
LessMore
Georgia towns of 2,500+ (264)Ahead of 95%
Few Georgia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Sugar Hill’s 10% is ahead of 95% of Georgia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 83% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would still be 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 CRNRA - Bowmans Island Unit, with 1.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
Managed by National Park Service
491 acres
Dogs usually limited
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
CRNRA - Orrs Ferry Unit
Managed by National Park Service
104 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dogs usually limited
Directionsto the parking lot
All 7 parks & preserves
CRNRA - Bowmans Island Unit491 acres · 1.5 mi of trail · National Park Service
DirectionsGary Pirkle Park34 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
DirectionsCRNRA - Orrs Ferry Unit104 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · National Park Service
DirectionsChattahoochee River National Recreation Area491 acres · National Park Service
EE Robinson Park26 acres
DirectionsRidge Lake Park20 acres · City of Sugar Hill
DirectionsGold Mine Park2 acres · Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation
DirectionsWho protects it
750 conserved acres
10% of Sugar Hill’s land. Who manages Sugar Hill’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
National Park Service525 ac
Town or city211 ac
Private owners33 ac
County29 ac
State natural resources15 ac
National Recreation Area · 525 acLocal Conservation Area · 110 acLocal Park · 109 acPrivate Park · 33 acLocal Recreation Area · 28 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 14 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area National Recreation Area | National Park Service | 525 | Open |
| Open Space Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 157 | Open |
| Sugar Hill Greenspace Local Park | Town or city | 43 | Open |
| Riverside Walk Homeowners Association Private Park | Private owners | 32 | Closed |
| Greenspace Program Acquisition Local Recreation Area | County | 28 | Open |
| Open Speace Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 9 | Open |
| Chattahoochee River Greenway Local Park | State natural resources | 7 | Open |
| City Of Sugar Hill Park - Unknown Name Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Settles Bridge Park Local Conservation Area | County | 1 | Open |
| Townsend Creek Private Park | Private owners | 1 | Closed |
1 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
37 places to go in Sugar Hill
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in Sugar Hill
Kid's Pool
DirectionsPool
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Sugar Hill
34 playgrounds are on OpenStreetMap in all; the list shows named ones from the first 30.
Dog parks in Sugar Hill
1 dog park without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.8 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.1 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
0.6 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
59Tennis
8Baseball
6Soccer
4Pickleball
4Basketball
3Football
2Volleyball
1Softball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Sugar Hill: 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 | 10.3 | 9.9 |
| High (°F) | 52 | 56 | 64 | 72 | 79 | 85 | 88 | 87 | 82 | 72 | 62 | 54 |
| Rain (in) | 5.0 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.8 |
October is the driest month (3.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 5.1 inches fall in March, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Sugar Hill →
Next door
Sugar Hill and its neighbors
Sugar Hill has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Sugar Hill
Where can I hike in Sugar Hill?
The longest trail networks: CRNRA - Bowmans Island Unit, 1.5 miles; Gary Pirkle Park, 0.3 miles; CRNRA - Orrs Ferry Unit, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Sugar Hill is conserved land?
10% 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 Sugar Hill’s trails?
CRNRA - Bowmans Island Unit and Gary Pirkle Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Sugar Hill?
0.8 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.1 of painted or protected lanes and 0.6 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Sugar Hill?
16,593 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Sugar Hill or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 868 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Sugar Hill have?
Ahead of 83% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #13 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 Sugar Hill 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 →