Plains Park
Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Plains
97% of residents live within a half mile of a park in Plains
0.8 miles of mapped trail cross Plains, 1.3 per square mile of land. 5 acres are parks and preserves, 4.3 per 1,000 residents. 5% of Plains’ land is conserved, about 20 acres.
Ahead of 72% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
5%
20 acres · of 0.6 sq mi of land
Trails
0.8 mi
1.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
5 ac
4.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
97%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Plains?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Plains have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Plains is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Plains’ overall grade.
Conserved land5% of the land · typical MT town 10% · U.S. 4%BTrails1.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · MT 0.7 · U.S. 0.4APark land4.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (5 acres) · MT 14 · U.S. 13CParks close to home97% of residents within a half mile of a park · MT 91% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 72%
LessMore
Montana towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 10%; the U.S., 4%), so Plains’ 5% is ahead of 26% of Montana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 69% of them.
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.
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.
Who protects it
20 conserved acres
5% of Plains’ land. Who manages Plains’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
U.S. Forest Service13 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government7 ac
National Forest · 13 acLocal Other or Unknown · 7 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 2 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lolo National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 13 | Open |
| Local Other or Unknown Local Other or Unknown | Other or Unknown Local Government | 7 | Unknown |
Things to do
2 places to go in Plains
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Plains
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
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
1Football
1Baseball
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Plains: April to June and September
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) | 8.8 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 15.9 | 15.6 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.2 | 8.5 |
| High (°F) | 35 | 40 | 51 | 60 | 70 | 77 | 88 | 87 | 76 | 59 | 42 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
August is the driest month (0.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 1.7 inches fall in June, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Plains →
Questions about parks and trails in Plains
How much of Plains is conserved land?
5% of its land, against a typical 10% for a Montana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Plains’ trails?
Plains Park and Fred Young Memorial Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Plains?
77,892 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Plains or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 17 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Plains have?
Ahead of 72% 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 Plains 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 →