Photo: Jake DeGroot · CC BY-SA 3.0Appleton has 7 acres of parks, 4.8 for every 1,000 residents
1.5 miles of mapped trail cross Appleton, 0.8 per square mile of land. 84% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 47% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Appleton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Appleton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Appleton is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
8 conserved acres
1% of Appleton’s land. Who manages Appleton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 8 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
6 places to go in Appleton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
1 lakes & rivers
4.7 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
September is the best month for walking in Appleton
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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.4 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 22 | 27 | 40 | 56 | 70 | 79 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 58 | 41 | 27 |
| Rain (in) | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 |
January is the driest month (0.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.0 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Appleton →
Questions about parks and trails in Appleton
How much of Appleton is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 5% for a Minnesota town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Appleton?
4.7 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.3 of off-road paths and 2.3 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near Appleton?
354 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Appleton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 7 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Appleton have?
Ahead of 47% 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 Appleton neighbors.
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 →