Frisbee Golf Course
Park
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Adam Moss from Macomb, IL, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Mount Sterling
6% of Mount Sterling’s land is conserved: 43 acres
95% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 45 acres are parks and preserves, 23 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
6%
43 acres · of 1.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
45 ac
23 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
95%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Mount Sterling?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Mount Sterling have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Mount Sterling is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Sterling’s overall grade.
Conserved land6% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4DPark land23 acres of park per 1,000 residents (45 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home95% of residents within a half mile of a park · IL 88% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 55%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ 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.
Clark Park
Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Brown County Elementary Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Rotary Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
43 conserved acres
6% of Mount Sterling’s land. Who manages Mount Sterling’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city43 ac
Local Park · 43 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clark Memorial Park Local Park | Town or city | 38 | Open |
| Kassing Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| Rotary Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Mount Sterling
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in Mount Sterling
Joel Oliver Pool
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Mount Sterling
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
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
1Basketball
1Baseball
1Tennis
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Mount Sterling: July and August
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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.0 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 9.9 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 35 | 40 | 52 | 64 | 74 | 83 | 86 | 84 | 78 | 66 | 51 | 39 |
| Rain (in) | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 2.0 |
January is the driest month (1.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 86 °F). 4.9 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Mount Sterling →
Questions about parks and trails in Mount Sterling
How much of Mount Sterling is conserved land?
6% 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 Mount Sterling’s trails?
Frisbee Golf Course and Clark Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Mount Sterling?
3,915 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Mount Sterling or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 45 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Mount Sterling have?
Ahead of 55% 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 Mount Sterling 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 →