South Mountain State Park
Managed by Maryland Park Service
103 acres1.8 mi of trail
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Highfield-Cascade
Highfield-Cascade has 156 acres of parks, 143 for every 1,000 residents
3.6 miles of mapped trail cross Highfield-Cascade, 2.1 per square mile of land. 11% of Highfield-Cascade’s land is conserved, about 124 acres. The biggest trail networks: South Mountain State Park (1.8 mi), Pen Mar Park (0.9 mi).
Ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
11%
124 acres · of 1.7 sq mi of land
Trails
3.6 mi
2.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
156 ac
143 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
26%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Highfield-Cascade?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Highfield-Cascade have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Highfield-Cascade is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Highfield-Cascade’s overall grade.
Conserved land11% of the land · typical MD town 9% · U.S. 4%A−Trails2.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (4 mi) · MD 0.5 · U.S. 0.4APark land143 acres of park per 1,000 residents (156 acres) · MD 9 · U.S. 13AParks close to home26% of residents within a half mile of a park · MD 87% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 84%
LessMore
Maryland towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 9%; the U.S., 4%), so Highfield-Cascade’s 11% is ahead of 60% of Maryland towns, while its trails per square mile lead 90% of them.
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 South Mountain State Park, with 1.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Pen Mar Park
Park
42 acres0.9 mi of trail
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Managed by National Park Service
13 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dogs usually limited
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Who protects it
124 conserved acres
11% of Highfield-Cascade’s land. Who manages Highfield-Cascade’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources100 ac
National Park Service14 ac
County7 ac
Not recorded104 ac
State Park · 196 acNational Scenic or Historic Trail · 14 acLocal Other or Unknown · 6 acLocal Park · 4 acConservation Easement · 3 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 3 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 8 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Mountain Sp State Park | Not recorded | 99 | Unknown |
| South Mountain State Park State Park | State natural resources | 97 | Open |
| Appalachian National Scenic Trail National Scenic or Historic Trail | National Park Service | 14 | Open |
| County Land Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 6 | Unknown |
| Pen Mar Local Park | County | 3 | Open |
| Washington County Local Park | County | 2 | Open |
Things to do
3 places to go in Highfield-Cascade
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Highfield-Cascade
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Scenic views in Highfield-Cascade
1 scenic view without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
1 named trail
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.2 mi
Appalachian National Scenic Trail1.2 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
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
TipahatoBuilding · listed 2001
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Highfield-Cascade: April to August
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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 15.0 | 14.7 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 9.9 | 9.4 |
| High (°F) | 37 | 40 | 49 | 62 | 71 | 79 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 63 | 51 | 41 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.7 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
February is the driest month (2.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 5.0 inches fall in September, the wettest month. The climate in Highfield-Cascade →
Next door
Highfield-Cascade and its neighbors
Highfield-Cascade has the second most mapped trails of the 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highfield-Cascade | 11% | 2.1 | 143 | 26% | A− |
| Fort Ritchie | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Highfield-Cascade
Where can I hike in Highfield-Cascade?
The longest trail networks: South Mountain State Park, 1.8 miles; Pen Mar Park, 0.9 miles; Appalachian National Scenic Trail, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Highfield-Cascade is conserved land?
11% of its land, against a typical 9% for a Maryland town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Highfield-Cascade’s trails?
South Mountain State Park and Pen Mar Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Highfield-Cascade?
31,896 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Highfield-Cascade or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 157 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Highfield-Cascade have?
Ahead of 84% 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 Highfield-Cascade 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 →