Grant Woods Forest Preserve
Managed by Lake County Forest Preserves
213 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Photo: Wschlitz · CC BY-SA 4.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Fox Lake Hills
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Fox Lake Hills
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. The biggest trail networks: Grant Woods Forest Preserve (0.6 mi). 1.0 miles of mapped trail cross Fox Lake Hills, 0.8 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 82% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
4%
30 acres · of 1.3 sq mi of land
Trails
1.0 mi
0.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
36 ac
15 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.3 mi
2.3 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Fox Lake Hills?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Fox Lake Hills have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Fox Lake Hills is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of residents near a park ranks highest, conserved land lowest.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Fox Lake Hills’ overall grade.
Conserved land4% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land15 acres of park per 1,000 residents (36 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13BParks 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 82%
LessMore
Water is 30% of Fox Lake Hills’ area (1 of 2 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 3%.
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
The longest trail network is Grant Woods Forest Preserve, with 0.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Lake Villa Township Park
Park
23 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
30 conserved acres
4% of Fox Lake Hills’ land. Water is left out: Fox Lake Hills has 1.3 square miles of land and 0.5 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Fox Lake Hills’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city30 ac
Local Park · 25 acLocal Other or Unknown · 5 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caboose Park Local Park | Town or city | 25 | Open |
| Lake Villa Township West Community Center Local Other or Unknown | Town or city | 5 | Open |
Things to do
5 places to go in Fox Lake Hills
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Fox Lake Hills
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Picnic areas in Fox Lake Hills
1 picnic area without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Biking & sports
2.3 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Chain O'Lakes Bike PathBike route
0.3 miCourts & fields
1Pickleball
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Fox Lake Hills: July 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) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.0 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 34 | 45 | 58 | 69 | 79 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 62 | 47 | 35 |
| Rain (in) | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
February is the driest month (1.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.5 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Fox Lake Hills →
Next door
Fox Lake Hills and its neighbors
Fox Lake Hills 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Lake Hills | 4% | 0.8 | 15 | 99%+ | A− |
| Lake Villa | 18% | 0.8 | 41 | 99%+ | A+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Fox Lake Hills
Where can I hike in Fox Lake Hills?
The longest trail networks: Grant Woods Forest Preserve, 0.6 miles; Lake Villa Township Park, 0.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Fox Lake Hills is conserved land?
4% 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 Fox Lake Hills’ trails?
Grant Woods Forest Preserve and Lake Villa Township Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Fox Lake Hills?
2.3 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.3 of off-road paths. Named routes: Chain O'Lakes Bike Path.
Is there public land near Fox Lake Hills?
22,908 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Fox Lake Hills or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 36 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Fox Lake Hills have?
Ahead of 82% 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 Fox Lake Hills 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 →