Dolton Park
Managed by Dolton Park District
24 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Dolton
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Dolton
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 0.1 miles of mapped trail cross Dolton. 106 acres are parks and preserves, 5.1 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 46% of U.S. towns · #529 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
102 acres · of 4.6 sq mi of land
Trails
0.1 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
106 ac
5.1 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
2
2 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Dolton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Dolton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Dolton is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #529 of 768 in Illinois. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Dolton’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4C−Park land5.1 acres of park per 1,000 residents (106 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13CParks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 46%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 31%
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Beaubien Woods
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
17 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Needles Park
Managed by Dolton Park District
10 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Dolton-Riverdale Park
Managed by Dolton Park District
9 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
All 11 parks & preserves
Dolton Park24 acres · Dolton Park District
Beaubien Woods17 acres · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Needles Park10 acres · Dolton Park District
Dolton-Riverdale Park9 acres · Dolton Park District
DirectionsBlackstone Park6 acres · Dolton Park District
Riverfront Park5 acres · Dolton Park District
DirectionsTown & Country Park5 acres · Dolton Park District
Triangle Park3 acres · Dolton Park District
Willowgreen Park3 acres · Dolton Park District
Kandy Kane Park2 acres · Dolton Park District
Sunshine Park2 acres · Dolton Park District
Who protects it
102 conserved acres
3% of Dolton’s land. Who manages Dolton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Regional agency99 ac
Not recorded3 ac
Local Park · 94 acLocal Recreation Area · 8 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Needles Park Local Park | Regional agency | 39 | Open |
| Dolton Park Local Park | Regional agency | 24 | Open |
| Dolton Riverdale Little League Park Local Recreation Area | Regional agency | 8 | Open |
| Blackstone Park Local Park | Regional agency | 6 | Open |
| Riverfront Park Local Park | Regional agency | 5 | Open |
| Town & Country Park Local Park | Regional agency | 5 | Open |
| Riverside Park Local Park | Not recorded | 3 | Open |
| Willowgreen Park Local Park | Regional agency | 3 | Open |
| Triangle Park Local Park | Regional agency | 3 | Open |
| Meadowlane Park Local Park | Regional agency | 2 | Open |
2 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
7 places to go in Dolton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Dolton
5 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Dolton
2 boat launches without a name on the map.
Trails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
4Baseball
2Basketball
2Tennis
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Dolton: April, July and 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) | 9.5 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 36 | 47 | 60 | 71 | 80 | 84 | 82 | 76 | 63 | 49 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 2.1 |
February is the driest month (1.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Dolton →
Next door
Dolton and its neighbors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolton | 3% | under 0.1 | 5 | 99%+ | B− |
| South Holland | 5% | 0.6 | 9 | 99%+ | A− |
| Calumet City | 8% | 0.5 | 7 | 96% | B+ |
| Harvey | 2% | 0.2 | 4 | 99% | B− |
| Riverdale | 2% | 0.4 | 5 | 98% | B |
| Chicago | 8% | 1.1 | 4 | 99% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Dolton
How much of Dolton is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 4% for an Illinois town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Dolton’s trails?
Dolton Park and Beaubien Woods don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Dolton?
11,281 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Dolton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 106 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Dolton have?
Ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #529 of 768 in Illinois. 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 Dolton 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 →