Conway State Forest
Nature preserve
1,793 acres6.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Burkeville Covered Bridge · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Conway
Conway has 3,718 acres of parks, 2,118 for every 1,000 residents
32% of Conway’s land is conserved, about 7,784 acres. 60 miles of mapped trail cross Conway, 1.6 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Conway State Forest (6.9 mi), Conway Hills Wildlife Sanctuary (1 mi), MacLeish Field Station (1 mi).
Ahead of 94% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
32%
7,784 acres · of 37.7 sq mi of land
Trails
60 mi
1.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
3,718 ac
2,118 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
47%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
1,490 ft
Abbott Hill
Lakes & rivers
5
What kind of outdoors town is Conway?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Conway have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Conway is ahead of 94% 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 Conway’s overall grade.
Conserved land32% of the land · typical MA town 21% · U.S. 4%A+Trails1.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (60 mi) · MA 1.9 · U.S. 0.4APark land2,118 acres of park per 1,000 residents (3,718 acres) · MA 91 · U.S. 13A+Parks close to home47% of residents within a half mile of a park · MA 93% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 94%
LessMore
Massachusetts towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 21%; the U.S., 4%), so Conway’s 32% is ahead of 77% of Massachusetts towns, while its trails per square mile lead 35% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A 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 Conway State Forest, with 6.9 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Conway Hills Wildlife Sanctuary
Nature preserve
102 acres1 mi of trail
Wolf Tree Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
MacLeish Field Station
Nature preserve
41 acres1 mi of trail
East Loop trailWest Loop trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Poland Brook Wildlife Management Area
Managed by Department of Fish And Game
743 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 8 parks & preserves
Conway State Forest1,793 acres · 6.9 mi of trail
Conway Hills Wildlife Sanctuary102 acres · 1 mi of trail
DirectionsMacLeish Field Station41 acres · 1 mi of trail
Poland Brook Wildlife Management Area743 acres · 0.5 mi of trail · Department of Fish And Game
World Species List - Natural Features Registry Institute91 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Mt. Esther Wildlife Management Area70 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Department of Fish and Game
South River State Forest448 acres
Bullitt Reservation91 acres
Who protects it
7,784 conserved acres
32% of Conway’s land. Who manages Conway’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits2,569 ac
Other state land1,403 ac
State parks454 ac
State natural resources227 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)208 ac
Joint191 ac
State conservation124 ac
Conservation Easement · 2,638 acAgricultural Easement · 2,415 acState Resource Management Area · 2,274 acWatershed Protection Area · 1,243 acState Conservation Area · 953 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 2,855 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 11 of 136 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conway State Forest State Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 1,691 | Open |
| Poland Brook Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 665 | Open |
| South Deerfield Water Supply Land Watershed Protection Area | Not recorded | 625 | Closed |
| South River State Forest State Resource Management Area | Not recorded | 583 | Open |
| Northampton Water Supply Land Watershed Protection Area | Not recorded | 532 | Closed |
| Flagg Mountain Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 219 | Open |
| Lucky Dog Woods Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 130 | Closed |
| Bullitt Reservation Private Conservation | Not recorded | 105 | Open |
| Massachusetts Audubon Society Private Conservation | Not recorded | 101 | Unknown |
| World Species List Forest Private Conservation | Not recorded | 84 | Restricted |
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
18 places to go in Conway
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Conway
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Peaks in Conway
Abbott Hill1,490 ft elevation
DirectionsSikes Hill1,480 ft elevation · In Conway State Forest
DirectionsFlag Mountain1,401 ft elevation
DirectionsSmith Hill1,401 ft elevation
DirectionsDry Hill1,362 ft elevation · In Conway State Forest
DirectionsToby Hill1,345 ft elevation
DirectionsCricket Hill1,247 ft elevation · In Conway State Forest
DirectionsWalters Hill1,243 ft elevation
Directions9 more peaks
Badger Hill1,214 ft elevation
DirectionsPine Hill1,171 ft elevation
DirectionsField Hill1,119 ft elevation
DirectionsFisher Hill1,096 ft elevation
DirectionsThe Colonel1,093 ft elevation
DirectionsCatlin Lot Hill1,066 ft elevation
DirectionsCricket Hill988 ft elevation
DirectionsPoplar Hill955 ft elevation
DirectionsNorton Hill932 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
4 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Open to bikes · 0.7 miUnpaved · 5.4 mi
Mohican - Mohawk Trail1.0 mi
Wolf Tree Trail0.6 mi
East Loop trail0.6 mi
West Loop trail0.2 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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
2Basketball
1Baseball
1Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
When to get out
The best walking months in Conway: May to 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) | 33 | 36 | 45 | 58 | 70 | 78 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 61 | 49 | 38 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 4.3 |
February is the driest month (3.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.9 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Conway →
Next door
Conway and its neighbors
Conway has the second most mapped trails of the 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conway | 32% | 1.6 | 2,118 | 47% | A |
| Shelburne | 23% | 0.6 | 684 | 72% | A |
| Deerfield | 19% | 1.9 | 245 | 60% | A |
| Goshen | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Whately | 31% | 1.0 | 1,112 | 85% | A+ |
| Ashfield | 20% | 1.1 | 714 | 41% | A |
| Buckland | 9% | 0.7 | 131 | 52% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Conway
Where can I hike in Conway?
The longest trail networks: Conway State Forest, 6.9 miles; Conway Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, 1 miles; MacLeish Field Station, 1 miles; Poland Brook Wildlife Management Area, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Conway is conserved land?
32% of its land, against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Conway’s trails?
Conway State Forest and Conway Hills Wildlife Sanctuary don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Conway?
59,147 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Conway or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 3,947 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Conway have?
Ahead of 94% 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 Conway 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 →