Armstrong Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Russell Lee · Public domainBOutdoors
Outdoors in Cascade
Cascade has 19 miles of mapped trails, 4.5 for every square mile of land
17% of Cascade’s land is conserved, about 449 acres. 2 acres are parks and preserves, 1.4 per 1,000 residents. 42% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 64% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
17%
449 acres · of 4.1 sq mi of land
Trails
19 mi
4.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
2 ac
1.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
42%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.3 mi
0.3 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1
4 beaches · 1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Cascade?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Cascade have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Cascade is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Cascade’s overall grade.
Conserved land17% of the land · typical ID town 2% · U.S. 4%ATrails4.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (19 mi) · ID 0.7 · U.S. 0.4A+Park land1.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (2 acres) · ID 6 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home42% of residents within a half mile of a park · ID 87% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 64%
LessMore
Few Idaho towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Cascade’s 17% is ahead of 100% of Idaho towns, while its trails per square mile lead 98% of them.
Water is 12% of Cascade’s area (1 of 5 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 15%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ 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.
Who protects it
449 conserved acres
17% of Cascade’s land. Water is left out: Cascade has 4.1 square miles of land and 0.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Cascade’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State Department of Land248 ac
Bureau of Reclamation165 ac
State parks36 ac
U.S. Forest Service2 ac
State Resource Management Area · 238 acResource Management Area · 165 acState Park · 36 acUnknown Easement · 11 acNational Forest · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 11 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 5 of 10 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho Department of Lands State Resource Management Area | State Department of Land | 238 | Open |
| Cascade Reservoir Resource Management Area | Bureau of Reclamation | 165 | Open |
| Lake Cascade State Park State Park | State parks | 36 | Open |
| Boise National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 2 | Open |
Things to do
11 places to go in Cascade
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Cascade
4 beaches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Playgrounds in Cascade
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Boat launches in Cascade
1 boat launch without a name on the map.
Campgrounds in Cascade
Arrowhead RV Park & CampgroundFee · Arrowhead Park LLC
DirectionsBig Sage CampgroundFee · Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
DirectionsRidgeview CampgroundFee · Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
DirectionsSage Bluff CampgroundFee · Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
DirectionsVan Wyck CampgroundFee · Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
DirectionsTrails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.3 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
2Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Cascade: May to September
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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 33 | 38 | 46 | 53 | 63 | 72 | 83 | 83 | 73 | 58 | 41 | 32 |
| Rain (in) | 3.3 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 3.9 |
August is the driest month (0.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 3.9 inches fall in December, the wettest month. The climate in Cascade →
Questions about parks and trails in Cascade
How much of Cascade is conserved land?
17% of its land, against a typical 2% for an Idaho town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Cascade’s trails?
Armstrong Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Cascade?
0.3 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.3 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Cascade?
108,470 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Cascade or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 407 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Cascade have?
Ahead of 64% 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 Cascade 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 →