Hornersville Swamp Conservation Area
Managed by Missouri Department of Conservation
3,154 acres3.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Clay Township
Clay Township has 248 miles of mapped trails, 2.1 for every square mile of land
The biggest trail networks: Hornersville Swamp Conservation Area (3.4 mi). 1 acre is park or preserve, 1.3 per 1,000 residents. 6% of Clay Township’s land is conserved, about 4,369 acres.
Ahead of 40% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
6%
4,369 acres · of 116.4 sq mi of land
Trails
248 mi
2.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
1 ac
1.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Clay Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Clay Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Clay Township is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Clay Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land6% of the land · typical MO town 2% · U.S. 4%BTrails2.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (248 mi) · MO 0.3 · U.S. 0.4APark land1.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1 acre) · MO 11 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home0% of residents within a half mile of a park · MO 74% · U.S. 72%D−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 40%
LessMore
Few Missouri towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Clay Township’s 6% is ahead of 87% of Missouri towns, while its trails per square mile lead 98% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. 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
The longest trail network is Hornersville Swamp Conservation Area, with 3.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
4,369 conserved acres
6% of Clay Township’s land. Who manages Clay Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
USDA easements (NRCS)1,125 ac
Not recorded3,246 ac
State Conservation Area · 3,242 acConservation Easement · 1,113 acOther Easement · 13 acPrivate Conservation · 4 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,123 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hornersville Swamp Conservation Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 3,164 | Restricted |
| Warbler Woods Conservation Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 81 | Restricted |
Things to do
2 places to go in Clay Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Clay Township
Homersville Access
DirectionsPlus 1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
3 named trails
Named trails
Unpaved · 227.5 mi
County Road 7270.7 mi
County Road 7220.3 mi
County Road 7320.2 mi
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
1Baseball
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The walking year in Clay Township
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) | 10.0 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 46 | 51 | 61 | 71 | 80 | 88 | 90 | 89 | 83 | 73 | 60 | 49 |
| Rain (in) | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.8 |
September is the driest month (3.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 5.6 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Clay Township →
Next door
Clay Township and its neighbors
Clay Township has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Township | 6% | 2.1 | 1 | under 1% | C+ |
| Salem Township | 4% | 0.1 | 2 | 53% | C |
| Independence Township | 3% | 0.6 | 6 | 65% | B− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Clay Township
Where can I hike in Clay Township?
The longest trail networks: Hornersville Swamp Conservation Area, 3.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Clay Township is conserved land?
6% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Missouri town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Clay Township’s trails?
Hornersville Swamp Conservation Area doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Clay Township?
11,148 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Clay Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Clay Township have?
Ahead of 40% 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 Clay Township 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 →