Bennett Park
Managed by Palos Hills Resource & Recreation Department
40 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Crosbiesmith · CC BY-SA 4.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Palos Hills
Palos Hills has 90 acres of parks, 5.0 for every 1,000 residents
92% of residents live within a half mile of a park. The biggest trail networks: Bennett Park (0.6 mi), Indian Woods Park (0.5 mi). 3.1 miles of mapped trail cross Palos Hills, 0.7 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 61% of U.S. towns · #390 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
87 acres · of 4.2 sq mi of land
Trails
3.1 mi
0.7 per sq mi of land
Park land
90 ac
5.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
92%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.1 mi
2.1 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Palos Hills?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Palos Hills have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Palos Hills is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #390 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 Palos Hills’ overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.7 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land5.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (90 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13CParks close to home92% 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 61%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 49%
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 Bennett Park, with 0.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Indian Woods Park
Park
9 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Crooked Creek Woods
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
82 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
White Oak Woods
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
50 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 12 parks & preserves
Bennett Park40 acres · 0.6 mi of trail · Palos Hills Resource & Recreation Department
DirectionsIndian Woods Park9 acres · 0.5 mi of trail
Bill Dunnett Field7 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
DirectionsCrooked Creek Woods82 acres · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
DirectionsWhite Oak Woods50 acres · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Palos Fen Nature Preserve48 acres · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
DirectionsKrasowski Park5 acres
DirectionsOsborne Park4 acres
Volunteer Park2 acres
Michael Park2 acres
Hickory Hills Woods1 acres · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Loveland Park1 acres
Who protects it
87 conserved acres
3% of Palos Hills’ land. Who manages Palos Hills’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State conservation48 ac
Town or city38 ac
Private owners1 ac
Conservation Easement · 48 acLocal Park · 38 acPrivate Park · 1 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 48 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Krasowski Park Local Park | Town or city | 14 | Open |
| Indian Woods Local Park | Town or city | 9 | Open |
| Glacier Park Local Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| Osborne Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| Volunteer Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Aspen Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Michael Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Hickory Hills Golf Course Private Park | Private owners | 1 | Open |
| Loveland Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
12 places to go in Palos Hills
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Palos Hills
12 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Biking & sports
2.1 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.1 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
20Tennis
10Baseball
8Soccer
3Basketball
2Football
1Softball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Palos Hills: April, July 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 | 64 | 49 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 3.9 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
February is the driest month (1.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.6 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Palos Hills →
Next door
Palos Hills and its neighbors
Palos Hills has the second most mapped trails of the 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palos Hills | 3% | 0.7 | 5 | 92% | B |
| Hickory Hills | 12% | 0.4 | 6 | 99%+ | A− |
| Bridgeview | 3% | 0.3 | 4 | 99%+ | B |
| Worth | 5% | 0.4 | 8 | 99%+ | B+ |
| Palos Park | under 1% | 4.7 | 5 | 54% | B− |
| Palos Heights | 2% | 0.5 | 7 | 98% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Palos Hills
Where can I hike in Palos Hills?
The longest trail networks: Bennett Park, 0.6 miles; Indian Woods Park, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Palos Hills is conserved land?
3% 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 Palos Hills’ trails?
Bennett Park and Indian Woods Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Palos Hills?
2.1 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.1 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Palos Hills?
11,136 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Palos Hills or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 90 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Palos Hills have?
Ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #390 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 Palos 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 →