Charles B. Hayes Sculpture Park
Managed by University of Notre Dame
8 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Public domain · Public domainB+Outdoors
Outdoors in Notre Dame
96% of residents live within a half mile of a park in Notre Dame
1.9 miles of mapped trail cross Notre Dame, 1.6 per square mile of land. 9% of Notre Dame’s land is conserved, about 74 acres. 10 acres are parks and preserves, 1.5 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 74% of U.S. towns · #56 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it
Conserved land
9%
74 acres · of 1.2 sq mi of land
Trails
1.9 mi
1.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
10 ac
1.5 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
96%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.3 mi
3.3 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
3
What kind of outdoors town is Notre Dame?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Notre Dame have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Notre Dame is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #56 of 593 in Indiana. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Notre Dame’s overall grade.
Conserved land9% of the land · typical IN town 2% · U.S. 4%A−Trails1.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · IN 0.1 · U.S. 0.4APark land1.5 acres of park per 1,000 residents (10 acres) · IN 10 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home96% of residents within a half mile of a park · IN 51% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 74%
LessMore
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 91%
Few Indiana towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Notre Dame’s 9% is ahead of 91% of Indiana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 98% of them.
Water is 5% of Notre Dame’s area (0 of 1 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 9%.
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 Charles B. Hayes Sculpture Park, with 0.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Our Lady of the Lake World Peace Plaza
Managed by University of Notre Dame
1 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
74 conserved acres
9% of Notre Dame’s land. Water is left out: Notre Dame has 1.2 square miles of land and 0.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Notre Dame’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Private owners72 ac
Town or city1 ac
Private Park · 72 acLocal Park · 1 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Notre Dame Golf Course Private Park | Private owners | 72 | Open |
| Wolverine Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
1 places to go in Notre Dame
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Notre Dame
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
3 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
3.3 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
3.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
8Beach volleyball
7Basketball
5Soccer
5Football
2Tracks
2Baseball
1Lacrosse
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Notre Dame: 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 | 47 | 60 | 71 | 80 | 83 | 81 | 75 | 63 | 48 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 2.9 | 2.5 |
February is the driest month (2.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.2 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Notre Dame →
Next door
Notre Dame 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame | 9% | 1.6 | 2 | 96% | B+ |
| South Bend | 6% | 0.7 | 15 | 84% | B+ |
| Clay Township | 8% | 0.6 | 19 | 45% | B+ |
| Portage Township | 5% | 0.8 | 10 | 87% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Notre Dame
Where can I hike in Notre Dame?
The longest trail networks: Charles B. Hayes Sculpture Park, 0.1 miles; Our Lady of the Lake World Peace Plaza, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Notre Dame is conserved land?
9% of its land, against a typical 2% for an Indiana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Notre Dame’s trails?
Charles B. Hayes Sculpture Park and Our Lady of the Lake World Peace Plaza don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Notre Dame?
3.3 miles of bike routes are on the map: 3.3 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Notre Dame?
3,276 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Notre Dame or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 10 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Notre Dame have?
Ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #56 of 593 in Indiana. 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 Notre Dame 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 →