Photo: Farragutful · CC BY-SA 4.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Elbow Lake
0.1 miles of mapped trail cross Elbow Lake, 0.1 per square mile of land. 78% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 14 acres are parks and preserves, 11 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Elbow Lake have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Elbow Lake is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
Water is 21% of Elbow Lake’s area (0 of 2 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read under 1%.
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.
1 places to go in Elbow Lake
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
1 lakes & rivers
0.2 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.
2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The walking year in Elbow Lake
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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°F) | 19 | 24 | 37 | 54 | 68 | 77 | 81 | 79 | 71 | 56 | 39 | 25 |
| Rain (in) | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
February is the driest month (0.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 4.3 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Elbow Lake →
Questions about parks and trails in Elbow Lake
How much of Elbow Lake is conserved land?
under 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 Elbow Lake?
0.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.2 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Elbow Lake?
163 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Elbow Lake or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 14 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Elbow Lake have?
Ahead of 27% 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 Elbow Lake 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 →