Brighton Oaks Park
Managed by Crystal Lake Park District
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Lakewood
7% of Lakewood’s land is conserved: 209 acres
2.9 miles of mapped trail cross Lakewood, 0.6 per square mile of land. 9 acres are parks and preserves, 2.0 per 1,000 residents. 73% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns · #462 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
7%
209 acres · of 4.6 sq mi of land
Trails
2.9 mi
0.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
9 ac
2.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
73%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.0 mi
2.0 mi lanes · 1.0 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
1 beach
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Lakewood have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Lakewood is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #462 of 768 in Illinois. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Lakewood’s overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land2.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (9 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home73% of residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 55%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 40%
Water is 6% of Lakewood’s area (0 of 5 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 7%.
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.
West Park
Managed by Crystal Lake Park District
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
209 conserved acres
7% of Lakewood’s land. Water is left out: Lakewood has 4.6 square miles of land and 0.3 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Lakewood’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city110 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits54 ac
Private owners38 ac
State conservation37 ac
Regional agency5 ac
Unknown · 110 acConservation Easement · 92 acState Conservation Area · 36 acLocal Park · 5 acPrivate Conservation · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 56 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crystal Lake Unknown | Town or city | 110 | Open |
| Kishwaukee Fen Nature Preserve State Conservation Area | Private owners | 36 | Closed |
| Brighton Oaks Park Local Park | Regional agency | 2 | Open |
| West Park Local Park | Regional agency | 2 | Open |
| Kishwaukee Fen Private Conservation | Private owners | 2 | Closed |
Things to do
2 places to go in Lakewood
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Lakewood
West Beach
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Lakewood
1 playground 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
3.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.0 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
1.0 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
5Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Lakewood: August 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) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.2 | 15.0 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 34 | 46 | 58 | 70 | 80 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 62 | 47 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 2.0 |
February is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.7 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Lakewood →
Next door
Lakewood and its neighbors
Lakewood 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood | 7% | 0.6 | 2 | 73% | B− |
| Crystal Lake | 10% | 1.0 | 40 | 97% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Lakewood
How much of Lakewood is conserved land?
7% 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 Lakewood’s trails?
Brighton Oaks Park and West Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Lakewood?
3.0 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.0 of painted or protected lanes and 1.0 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Lakewood?
21,584 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Lakewood or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 122 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Lakewood have?
Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #462 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 Lakewood 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 →