River's Edge
Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Hauge Lutheran Church · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0DOutdoors
Outdoors in Mission Township
Few parks or trails are on the map in Mission Township
6 acres are parks and preserves, 1.4 per 1,000 residents. 25% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 2.3 miles of mapped trail cross Mission Township, 0.1 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 12% of U.S. towns · #746 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
169 acres · of 31.7 sq mi of land
Trails
2.3 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
6 ac
1.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
25%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Mission Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Mission Township is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns, #746 of 768 in Illinois. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; conserved land comes closest.
D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Mission Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4CPark land1.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (6 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home25% of residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 12%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 3%
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Mission Township. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. 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
169 conserved acres
1% of Mission Township’s land. Who manages Mission Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits93 ac
Private owners74 ac
State conservation67 ac
Agricultural Easement · 93 acPrivate Conservation · 74 acConservation Easement · 67 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 95 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp River Trails Land And Water Reserve Private Conservation | Private owners | 74 | Closed |
Things to do
4 places to go in Mission Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Mission Township
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
1 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
3Basketball
3Baseball
1Tennis
1Beach volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 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 Mission Township: April 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) | 31 | 35 | 48 | 61 | 73 | 82 | 85 | 83 | 77 | 64 | 49 | 36 |
| Rain (in) | 1.9 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 3.6 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 2.0 |
February is the driest month (1.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.7 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Mission Township →
Next door
Mission Township and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Fox Township23 miBig Grove Township4.1 miMiller Township2.4 miMission Township2.3 miNorthville Township1.6 miMillington0.3 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission Township | 1% | 0.1 | 1 | 25% | D |
| Northville Township | under 1% | under 0.1 | 5 | 66% | C− |
| Fox Township | 10% | 0.6 | 985 | 54% | A− |
| Miller Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Big Grove Township | under 1% | 0.1 | 36 | 69% | C+ |
| Millington | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Mission Township
How much of Mission Township is conserved land?
1% 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 Mission Township’s trails?
River's Edge doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Mission Township?
4,333 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Mission Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 6 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Mission Township have?
Ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #746 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 Mission Township 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 →