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St. Joseph Catholic Church, Chisholm, MN 02Photo: Myotus · CC BY-SA 4.0
A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Chisholm

Chisholm has 9.3 miles of mapped trails, 2.1 for every square mile of land

427 acres are parks and preserves, 91 per 1,000 residents. The biggest trail networks: Redhead Mountain Bike Park (3.6 mi). 90% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 84% of U.S. towns · #84 of 274 in Minnesota. What drives it

Conserved land
1%
39 acres · of 4.5 sq mi of land
Trails
9.3 mi
2.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
427 ac
91 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
90%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
25 mi
25 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1
1 boat launch

What kind of outdoors town is Chisholm?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

A trail town2.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 94% of U.S. towns.Room to roam91 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.Parks close to home90% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Chisholm have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Chisholm is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #84 of 274 in Minnesota. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.

A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Chisholm’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical MN town 5% · U.S. 4%CTrails2.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (9 mi) · MN 0.5 · U.S. 0.4APark land91 acres of park per 1,000 residents (427 acres) · MN 24 · U.S. 13AParks close to home90% of residents within a half mile of a park · MN 95% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 84%
LessMore
Minnesota towns of 2,500+ (274)Ahead of 70%

Water is 5% of Chisholm’s area (0 of 5 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 1%.

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.

12
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 Redhead Mountain Bike Park, with 3.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Redhead Mountain Bike Park

Park
386 acres3.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Longyear Lake Park

Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it

39 conserved acres

1% of Chisholm’s land. Water is left out: Chisholm has 4.5 square miles of land and 0.3 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Chisholm’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city37 ac
State natural resources2 ac
Local Park · 30 acLocal Other or Unknown · 7 acState Resource Management Area · 2 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Chisolm Memorial Park
Local Park
Town or city24Open
Unknown Park
Local Other or Unknown
Town or city12Open
Miscellaneous
State Resource Management Area
State natural resources2Open
Unknown Green Space
Local Park
Town or city1Open
Things to do

6 places to go in Chisholm

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Disc golf in Chisholm
Chisholm Disc GolfCity of Chisolm
Directions
Trails & water

1 named trail and 1 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Open to bikes · 0.5 miUnpaved · 0.8 mi
4th Street Northeast0.3 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Longyear Lake
Biking & sports

25 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

25 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
5Baseball
3Pickleball
2Equestrian
2Tennis
1Football
1Tracks
1Basketball
1Skate park

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

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.

History →
Saints Peter and Paul Church-Ukranian CatholicBuilding · listed 1980
About it
Chisholm Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2016
About it
When to get out

The walking year in Chisholm

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)8.810.211.813.615.115.915.614.212.510.89.28.5
High (°F)172437516574787667523522
Rain (in)0.70.71.01.83.04.43.83.43.42.61.41.0

February is the driest month (0.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 78 °F). 4.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Chisholm →

Next door

Chisholm and its neighbors

Chisholm has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Balkan Township31 miChisholm9.3 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Chisholm1%2.19190%A−
Balkan Township— 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 Chisholm

Where can I hike in Chisholm?

The longest trail networks: Redhead Mountain Bike Park, 3.6 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Chisholm 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.

Are dogs allowed on Chisholm’s trails?

Redhead Mountain Bike Park and Longyear Lake Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Chisholm?

25 miles of bike routes are on the map: 25 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Chisholm?

46,493 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Chisholm or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 430 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Chisholm have?

Ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #84 of 274 in Minnesota. 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 Chisholm neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →