Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge
Managed by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
1,149 acres2.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Karen Apricot · CC BY-SA 2.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Grand Isle
Grand Isle has 224 acres of parks, 359 for every 1,000 residents
9.4 miles of mapped trail cross Grand Isle, 1.5 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge (2.1 mi), Grand Isle State Park (2.1 mi). 8% of Grand Isle’s land is conserved, about 311 acres.
Ahead of 86% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
8%
311 acres · of 6.4 sq mi of land
Trails
9.4 mi
1.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
224 ac
359 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
47%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Grand Isle?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Grand Isle have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Grand Isle is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Grand Isle’s overall grade.
Conserved land8% of the land · typical LA town 1% · U.S. 4%B+Trails1.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (9 mi) · LA 0.1 · U.S. 0.4APark land359 acres of park per 1,000 residents (224 acres) · LA 5 · U.S. 13AParks close to home47% of residents within a half mile of a park · LA 53% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 86%
LessMore
Few Louisiana towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Grand Isle’s 8% is ahead of 93% of Louisiana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 98% of them.
Water is 22% of Grand Isle’s area (2 of 8 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 6%.
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 Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge, with 2.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Grand Isle State Park
Park
199 acres2.1 mi of trail
Fiddlers Loop Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Carl T. Satin Memorial Park
Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
311 conserved acres
8% of Grand Isle’s land. Water is left out: Grand Isle has 6.4 square miles of land and 1.8 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Grand Isle’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State parks205 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits97 ac
State natural resources9 ac
State Park · 205 acPrivate Conservation · 97 acState Other or Unknown · 7 acResearch or Educational Area · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 6 of 8 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Isle State Park State Park | State parks | 205 | Open |
| Grand Isle Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 97 | Unknown |
| State Lands State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 7 | Unknown |
| Lsu Research Station Research or Educational Area | State natural resources | 2 | Restricted |
Things to do
12 places to go in Grand Isle
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Grand Isle
Grand Isle Beach
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Grand Isle
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Grand Isle
U.S. Coast Guard - Station Grand Isle
DirectionsPlus 5 boat launches without a name on the map.
Fishing spots in Grand Isle
3 fishing spots without a name on the map.
Trails & water
1 named trail
Named trails
Unpaved · 8.1 mi
Fiddlers Loop Trail1.8 mi
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
5Basketball
2Baseball
1Tennis
1Beach volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →8 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Fort LivingstonStructure · listed 1974
About itKirby-Adam HouseBuilding · listed 2018
About itPoche HouseBuilding · listed 2018
About itRobin HouseBuilding · listed 2018
About itUnited States Coast Guard Station No. 79Building · listed 2018
About itHumble Oil Camp Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2020
About itValence HouseBuilding · listed 2023
About itThe Oleander HotelBuilding · listed 2025
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Grand Isle: April and May
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) | 10.5 | 11.1 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 13.6 | 14.0 | 13.8 | 13.2 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 10.3 |
| High (°F) | 62 | 65 | 70 | 76 | 83 | 88 | 89 | 89 | 86 | 79 | 70 | 65 |
| Rain (in) | 5.1 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 6.5 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 6.5 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.3 |
February is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 7.6 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Grand Isle →
Questions about parks and trails in Grand Isle
Where can I hike in Grand Isle?
The longest trail networks: Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge, 2.1 miles; Grand Isle State Park, 2.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Grand Isle is conserved land?
8% of its land, against a typical 1% for a Louisiana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Grand Isle’s trails?
Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge and Grand Isle State Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Grand Isle?
498 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Grand Isle or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 224 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Grand Isle have?
Ahead of 86% 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 Grand Isle 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 →