Unknown Confederate Soldier Monument in Horse Cave · Photo: The original uploader was Bedford at English Wikipedia. · Public domainFew parks or trails are on the map in Horse Cave
2% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 4 acres are parks and preserves, 1.9 per 1,000 residents. 1% of Horse Cave’s land is conserved, about 24 acres.
Ahead of 7% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Horse Cave?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Horse Cave have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Horse Cave is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; conserved land comes closest.
Few Kentucky towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Horse Cave’s 1% is ahead of 39% of Kentucky towns, while its trails per square mile lead 8% of them.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
24 conserved acres
1% of Horse Cave’s land. Who manages Horse Cave’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hidden River Cave Local Park | Land trusts & nonprofits | 10 | Open |
| Cave City - Caverna School Park Local Park | Town or city | 9 | Open |
| Progress Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| Unknown Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
4 places to go in Horse Cave
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 dog park without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
1 picnic area without a name on the map.
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Horse Cave: April and June
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) | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.1 | 9.6 |
| High (°F) | 45 | 50 | 59 | 70 | 78 | 86 | 89 | 88 | 82 | 71 | 59 | 49 |
| Rain (in) | 4.0 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 5.4 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.8 |
August is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 5.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Horse Cave →
Questions about parks and trails in Horse Cave
How much of Horse Cave is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Kentucky town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Horse Cave?
25,379 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Horse Cave or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 14 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Horse Cave have?
Ahead of 7% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. 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 Horse Cave neighbors.
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 →