Bad Axe City Park
Park
35 acres0.7 mi of trail
VFW Post 116 Nature Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Bad Axe
Bad Axe has 122 acres of parks, 41 for every 1,000 residents
92% of residents live within a half mile of a park. The biggest trail networks: Bad Axe City Park (0.7 mi). 0.9 miles of mapped trail cross Bad Axe, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns · #258 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
45 acres · of 2.3 sq mi of land
Trails
0.9 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
122 ac
41 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
92%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Bad Axe?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bad Axe have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bad Axe is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns, #258 of 701 in Michigan. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bad Axe’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical MI town 5% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · MI 0.3 · U.S. 0.4BPark land41 acres of park per 1,000 residents (122 acres) · MI 33 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home92% of residents within a half mile of a park · MI 50% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 73%
LessMore
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 63%
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 Bad Axe City Park, with 0.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Wilcox Park
Park
10 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
45 conserved acres
3% of Bad Axe’s land. Who manages Bad Axe’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city45 ac
Local Park · 45 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Bad Axe Park Local Park | Town or city | 25 | Open |
| Unknown Park Local Park | Town or city | 11 | Open |
| Wicox Park Local Park | Town or city | 9 | Open |
Things to do
3 places to go in Bad Axe
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Bad Axe
Elementary School Playground
DirectionsGreene School Playground
DirectionsLutheran Preschool Playground
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail
Named trails
VFW Post 116 Nature Trail0.6 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
8Tennis
8Basketball
5Baseball
4Pickleball
1Field hockey
1Soccer
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Bad Axe: 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) | 9.3 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 31 | 41 | 54 | 66 | 76 | 80 | 78 | 72 | 59 | 45 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.1 |
February is the driest month (1.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 3.3 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Bad Axe →
Next door
Bad Axe 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Axe | 3% | 0.4 | 41 | 92% | B+ |
| Colfax Township | under 1% | 0.1 | 43 | 29% | C |
| Verona Township | 15% | 0.2 | 2,663 | 49% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Bad Axe
Where can I hike in Bad Axe?
The longest trail networks: Bad Axe City Park, 0.7 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Bad Axe is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 5% for a Michigan town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Bad Axe’s trails?
Bad Axe City Park and Huron County Fairgrounds don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Bad Axe?
9,129 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bad Axe or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 122 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Bad Axe have?
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #258 of 701 in Michigan. 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 Bad Axe 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 →