Hemingway/Northwood Natural Area
Nature preserve
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Stephen Marks - (WT-en) StephenM at English Wikivoyage · Public domainB+Outdoors
Outdoors in Ketchum
10% of Ketchum’s land is conserved: 208 acres
4.3 miles of mapped trail cross Ketchum, 1.3 per square mile of land. 23 acres are parks and preserves, 6.3 per 1,000 residents. 73% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 72% of U.S. towns · #13 of 59 in Idaho. What drives it
Conserved land
10%
208 acres · of 3.2 sq mi of land
Trails
4.3 mi
1.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
23 ac
6.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
73%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
7.4 mi
6.9 mi paths
Highest peak
6,043 ft
Penny Mountain
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Ketchum?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Ketchum have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Ketchum is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #13 of 59 in Idaho. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Ketchum’s overall grade.
Conserved land10% of the land · typical ID town 2% · U.S. 4%A−Trails1.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (4 mi) · ID 0.7 · U.S. 0.4APark land6.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (23 acres) · ID 6 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home73% of residents within a half mile of a park · ID 87% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 72%
LessMore
Idaho towns of 2,500+ (59)Ahead of 79%
Few Idaho towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Ketchum’s 10% is ahead of 97% of Idaho towns, while its trails per square mile lead 74% 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.
Who protects it
208 conserved acres
10% of Ketchum’s land. Who manages Ketchum’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Bureau of Land Management101 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits80 ac
Town or city23 ac
U.S. Forest Service7 ac
National Public Lands · 101 acPrivate Conservation · 67 acLocal Park · 15 acConservation Easement · 13 acLocal Conservation Area · 8 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 13 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 2 of 13 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoshone Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 101 | Open |
| Reinheimer Ranch Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 41 | Closed |
| 5.68 Ft 100' Railroad Row Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 26 | Closed |
| Atkinson Park Local Park | Town or city | 12 | Open |
| Sawtooth National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 7 | Open |
| Hemingway/Northwood Natural Area Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| Knob Hill Natural Area Local Conservation Area | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Rotary Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Guy Coles Skate Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Forest Service Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
1 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
2 places to go in Ketchum
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Ketchum
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Peaks in Ketchum
Penny Mountain6,043 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
5 named trails and 1 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Open to bikes · 1.7 miHorses · 1.1 miUnpaved · 2.2 mi
White Cloud Loop0.9 mi
Warm Springs0.5 mi
East of Baldy Court0.2 mi
Wanderer's Way - Heidelberg Hill Trail0.1 mi
Big Wood Connector0.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
7.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
6.9 mi
off-road bike paths
0.5 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
7Tennis
3Baseball
3Pickleball
2Soccer
2Skate park
1Volleyball
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →4 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Ketchum: 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 36 | 44 | 53 | 63 | 72 | 83 | 81 | 71 | 57 | 41 | 31 |
| Rain (in) | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.6 |
August is the driest month (0.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 2.6 inches fall in December, the wettest month. The climate in Ketchum →
Next door
Ketchum and its neighbors
Ketchum has the second most mapped trails of the 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ketchum | 10% | 1.3 | 6 | 73% | B+ |
| Sun Valley | 1% | 2.7 | 1 | 12% | C |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Ketchum
How much of Ketchum is conserved land?
10% 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 Ketchum’s trails?
Hemingway/Northwood Natural Area and Rotary Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Ketchum?
7.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 6.9 of off-road paths and 0.5 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near Ketchum?
71,959 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Ketchum or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 132 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Ketchum have?
Ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #13 of 59 in Idaho. 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 Ketchum 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 →