Simpson's Prairie
Nature preserve
135 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
COutdoors
Outdoors in York Township
18% of York Township’s land is conserved: 5,447 acres
The biggest trail networks: Simpson's Prairie (0.8 mi). 15% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 5.8 miles of mapped trail cross York Township, 0.1 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns · #660 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
Conserved land
18%
5,447 acres · of 47.5 sq mi of land
Trails
5.8 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Near a park
15%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.0 mi
2.0 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is York Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does York Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, York Township is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns, #660 of 768 in Illinois. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of York Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land18% of the land · typical IL town 4% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (6 mi) · IL 0.3 · U.S. 0.4CPark land0.1 acres of park per 1,000 residents (0 acres) · IL 15 · U.S. 13DParks close to home15% 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 29%
LessMore
Illinois towns of 2,500+ (768)Ahead of 14%
Water is 16% of York Township’s area (9 of 56 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 15%.
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
The longest trail network is Simpson's Prairie, with 0.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Thomson Prairie
Nature preserve
360 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
5,447 conserved acres
18% of York Township’s land. Water is left out: York Township has 47.5 square miles of land and 8.9 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages York Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Army Corps of Engineers4,245 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service2,515 ac
Private owners17 ac
Recreation Management Area · 4,245 acNational Wildlife Refuge · 2,515 acPrivate Historic or Cultural · 17 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ms Rv Pools 11-22 Recreation Area Recreation Management Area | Army Corps of Engineers | 4,245 | Open |
| Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife And Fish Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 2,515 | Restricted |
| Savanna South Railroad Prairie Natural Heritage Landmark Private Historic or Cultural | Private owners | 17 | Closed |
Things to do
2 places to go in York Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in York Township
1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Campgrounds in York Township
Army Corps of Engineers' Causeway
DirectionsTrails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
2.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.0 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
3Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
April is the best month for walking in York Township
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 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 35 | 47 | 61 | 72 | 81 | 84 | 82 | 76 | 63 | 48 | 35 |
| Rain (in) | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 1.9 |
January is the driest month (1.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 5.1 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in York Township →
Next door
York Township and its neighbors
York Township has the second most mapped trails of the 5 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Savanna Township7.5 miYork Township5.8 miFulton Township5.0 miMount Carroll Township0.7 miFairhaven Township0.3 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| York Township | 18% | 0.1 | under 1 | 15% | C |
| Fairhaven Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Mount Carroll Township | 1% | under 0.1 | 15 | 72% | C |
| Fulton Township | 25% | 0.3 | 22 | 89% | A− |
| Savanna Township | 63% | 0.6 | 52 | 80% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in York Township
Where can I hike in York Township?
The longest trail networks: Simpson's Prairie, 0.8 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of York Township is conserved land?
18% 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 York Township’s trails?
Simpson's Prairie and Thomson Prairie don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in York Township?
2.0 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.0 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near York Township?
17,524 acres of parks and open public land lie inside York Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 4,284 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does York Township have?
Ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #660 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 York 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 →