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West BridgeWest Bridge · Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0
C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Madelia

96% of residents live within a half mile of a park in Madelia

13 acres are parks and preserves, 5.5 per 1,000 residents.

Ahead of 21% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 1.5 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
13 ac
5.5 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
96%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1

What kind of outdoors town is Madelia?

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

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Madelia have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Madelia is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.

C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Madelia’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 21%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Madelia. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. 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.

123
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.

Watona Park

Park
8 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Flanders Park

Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Lion's Park

Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do

3 places to go in Madelia

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

Campgrounds in Madelia
Watona Park CampgroundFee · City of Madelia
Directions
Trails & water

1 lakes & rivers

Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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
4Basketball
4Baseball
4Beach volleyball
2Tennis
1Soccer
1Football

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 2 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Flanders' BlockBuilding · listed 1984
About it
West BridgeStructure · listed 2013
About it
When to get out

September is the best month for walking in Madelia

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)9.210.411.813.414.715.515.214.012.410.99.68.9
High (°F)232841566979838074594228
Rain (in)0.80.91.83.24.45.13.94.03.32.51.51.0

January is the driest month (0.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 5.1 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Madelia →

Questions about parks and trails in Madelia

How much of Madelia 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.

Are dogs allowed on Madelia’s trails?

Watona Park and Flanders Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Madelia?

94 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Madelia or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 13 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Madelia have?

Ahead of 21% 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 Madelia 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 →