Shepherd Soccer Fields
Park
21 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
AOutdoors
Outdoors in Shepherd
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Shepherd
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 3.8 miles of mapped trail cross Shepherd, 4.0 per square mile of land. 38 acres are parks and preserves, 26 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 91% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
15 acres · of 1.0 sq mi of land
Trails
3.8 mi
4.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
38 ac
26 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.3 mi
1.3 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Shepherd?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Shepherd have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Shepherd is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Shepherd’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical MI town 5% · U.S. 4%B−Trails4.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (4 mi) · MI 0.3 · U.S. 0.4A+Park land26 acres of park per 1,000 residents (38 acres) · MI 33 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · MI 50% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 91%
LessMore
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Little Salt River Park
Managed by Village of Shepherd
9 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Coe Township Park
Managed by Coe Township
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 5 parks & preserves
Shepherd Soccer Fields21 acres
Little Salt River Park9 acres · Village of Shepherd
DirectionsCoe Township Park2 acres · Coe Township
Shepherd Comunity Park2 acres
DirectionsShepherd Train Museum1 acres
DirectionsWho protects it
15 conserved acres
3% of Shepherd’s land. Who manages Shepherd’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city10 ac
Private owners5 ac
Local Park · 10 acPrivate Park · 5 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Salt River Park Local Park | Town or city | 10 | Open |
| Winding Brook Golf Course Private Park | Private owners | 5 | Restricted |
Things to do
6 places to go in Shepherd
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Shepherd
6 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Biking & sports
1.3 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
9Baseball
3Beach volleyball
3Football
2Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Shepherd: July and 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 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 29 | 32 | 43 | 56 | 69 | 79 | 83 | 80 | 73 | 60 | 46 | 35 |
| Rain (in) | 2.0 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
February is the driest month (1.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 3.7 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Shepherd →
Questions about parks and trails in Shepherd
How much of Shepherd 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 Shepherd’s trails?
Shepherd Soccer Fields and Little Salt River Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Shepherd?
1.3 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.3 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Shepherd?
2,410 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Shepherd or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 38 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Shepherd have?
Ahead of 91% 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 Shepherd 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 →