Jacobson Park
Park
25 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Wonder Lake
Wonder Lake has 6.7 miles of mapped trails, 1.3 for every square mile of land
83% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 62 acres are parks and preserves, 15 per 1,000 residents. 3% of Wonder Lake’s land is conserved, about 93 acres.
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns · #271 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
93 acres · of 5.0 sq mi of land
Trails
6.7 mi
1.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
62 ac
15 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
83%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
4.6 mi
4.6 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
2 beaches
What kind of outdoors town is Wonder Lake?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Wonder Lake have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Wonder Lake is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns, #271 of 768 in Illinois. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Wonder Lake’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%B−Trails1.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (7 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4APark land15 acres of park per 1,000 residents (62 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13BParks close to home83% 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 73%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 65%
Water is 19% of Wonder Lake’s area (1 of 6 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 2%.
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Harrison Benwell Conservation Area
Managed by McHenry County Conservation District
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Who protects it
93 conserved acres
3% of Wonder Lake’s land. Water is left out: Wonder Lake has 5.0 square miles of land and 1.2 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Wonder Lake’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city59 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits29 ac
Private owners5 ac
Local Park · 59 acConservation Easement · 29 acPrivate Conservation · 4 acState Conservation Area · 1 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 29 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacobson Park Local Park | Town or city | 25 | Open |
| Woods Creek Park Local Park | Town or city | 15 | Open |
| Village Green Park Local Park | Town or city | 7 | Open |
| Huff Park Local Park | Town or city | 7 | Open |
| The Meadows Of West Bay Park (Undeveloped) Local Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| Nippersink Creek Private Conservation | Private owners | 4 | Restricted |
| Glacial Park Nature Preserve State Conservation Area | Private owners | 1 | Closed |
Things to do
6 places to go in Wonder Lake
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Wonder Lake
Wonder Center Beach
DirectionsPlus 1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Playgrounds in Wonder Lake
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
4.6 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
4.6 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
3Baseball
1Tennis
1Basketball
1Beach volleyball
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Wonder Lake: 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) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.0 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 33 | 45 | 58 | 70 | 79 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 62 | 47 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
February is the driest month (1.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.7 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Wonder Lake →
Next door
Wonder Lake and its neighbors
Wonder Lake has the second most mapped trails of the 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wonder Lake | 3% | 1.3 | 15 | 83% | B+ |
| Bull Valley | 9% | 0.3 | 15 | 42% | B |
| McHenry | 3% | 0.5 | 22 | 90% | B+ |
| Ringwood | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Johnsburg | 7% | 0.1 | 18 | 77% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Wonder Lake
How much of Wonder Lake 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 Wonder Lake’s trails?
Jacobson Park and Harrison Benwell Conservation Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Wonder Lake?
4.6 miles of bike routes are on the map: 4.6 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Wonder Lake?
18,586 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Wonder Lake or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 62 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Wonder Lake have?
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #271 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 Wonder Lake 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 →