Yankee Woods
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
215 acres0.8 mi of trail
Tinley Creek Yellow Unpaved Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 4.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Oak Forest
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Oak Forest
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. The biggest trail networks: Yankee Woods (0.8 mi). 168 acres are parks and preserves, 6.3 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 58% of U.S. towns · #431 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
2%
91 acres · of 6.0 sq mi of land
Trails
1.6 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
168 ac
6.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
5.4 mi
5.4 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
What kind of outdoors town is Oak Forest?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Oak Forest have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Oak Forest is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #431 of 768 in Illinois. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Oak Forest’s overall grade.
Conserved land2% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%C+Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land6.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (168 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 58%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 44%
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
The longest trail network is Yankee Woods, with 0.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Don Burns Park
Park
10 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Tinley Creek Forest Preserve
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
117 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Midlothian Meadows
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
52 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
All 19 parks & preserves
Yankee Woods215 acres · 0.8 mi of trail · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
DirectionsDon Burns Park10 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Convent Park9 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Tinley Creek Forest Preserve117 acres · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
DirectionsMidlothian Meadows52 acres · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
DirectionsChicago Gaelic Park47 acres
DirectionsCentral Park32 acres
DirectionsJesk Park11 acres
DirectionsVergne Way Park8 acres
El Morro Park6 acres
DirectionsFieldcrest Park5 acres
Tower Park5 acres
DirectionsGene Leonard Park5 acres
Lagoon Park4 acres
Friendly Oaks Park4 acres
Heritage Park3 acres
DirectionsWaverly Creekside Park3 acres · Oak Forest Park District
DirectionsThe Avenues Park1 acres
Harriet Park1 acres · Oak Forest Park District
DirectionsWho protects it
91 conserved acres
2% of Oak Forest’s land. Who manages Oak Forest’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Regional agency86 ac
Town or city4 ac
Local Park · 89 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Park Local Park | Regional agency | 29 | Open |
| Don Burns Park Local Park | Regional agency | 10 | Open |
| Tower Park Local Park | Regional agency | 6 | Open |
| El Morro Park Local Park | Regional agency | 6 | Open |
| Convent Park Local Park | Regional agency | 6 | Open |
| Don & Loretta Gorman Park Local Park | Regional agency | 5 | Open |
| Gene Leonard Park Local Park | Regional agency | 5 | Open |
| James Jesk Park Local Park | Regional agency | 5 | Open |
| Lagoon Park Local Park | Regional agency | 4 | Open |
| Friendly Oaks Park Local Park | Regional agency | 4 | Open |
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
12 places to go in Oak Forest
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Oak Forest
12 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
1 named trail and 2 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 0.8 mi
Tinley Creek Yellow Unpaved Trail0.8 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
5.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
5.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
14Baseball
13Tennis
2Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Oak Forest: 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) | 32 | 36 | 48 | 60 | 71 | 81 | 84 | 82 | 76 | 63 | 49 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 2.2 |
February is the driest month (1.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.5 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Oak Forest →
Next door
Oak Forest 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Forest | 2% | 0.3 | 6 | 99%+ | B |
| Midlothian | 14% | 1.5 | 4 | 99% | A− |
| Country Club Hills | 4% | 0.2 | 11 | 99%+ | B+ |
| Orland Park | 5% | 1.0 | 14 | 98% | A− |
| Markham | 14% | 0.7 | 34 | 95% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Oak Forest
Where can I hike in Oak Forest?
The longest trail networks: Yankee Woods, 0.8 miles; Don Burns Park, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Oak Forest is conserved land?
2% 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 Oak Forest’s trails?
Yankee Woods and Don Burns Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Oak Forest?
5.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 5.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Oak Forest?
9,584 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Oak Forest or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 168 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Oak Forest have?
Ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #431 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 Oak Forest 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 →