Croatan National Forest
Managed by United States Forest Service
10 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
COutdoors
Outdoors in Cape Carteret
Cape Carteret has 2 acres of parks, 0.7 for every 1,000 residents
1% of Cape Carteret’s land is conserved, about 23 acres. 57% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.8 miles of mapped trail cross Cape Carteret, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 28% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
23 acres · of 2.5 sq mi of land
Trails
0.8 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
2 ac
0.7 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
57%
of residents within ½ mile
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Cape Carteret have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Cape Carteret is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Cape Carteret’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%C+Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land0.7 acres of park per 1,000 residents (2 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13DParks close to home57% of residents within a half mile of a park · NC 51% · U.S. 72%B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 28%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Cape Carteret. 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 C− 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.
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
23 conserved acres
1% of Cape Carteret’s land. Who manages Cape Carteret’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
U.S. Forest Service10 ac
State conservation1 ac
Not recorded11 ac
National Forest · 10 acLocal Other or Unknown · 6 acState Other or Unknown · 5 acConservation Easement · 1 acState Conservation Area · 1 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1 acre is a conservation easement, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 6 of 8 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croatan National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 10 | Open |
| Town of Cape Carteret Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 4 | Unknown |
| NC Department of Transportation Mitigation Site State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 4 | Unknown |
| Town of Cape Carteret - Bahia Lane Park Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Unknown |
| Croatan Game Land State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 1 | Open |
| NC Land and Water Fund Conservation Agreement State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Unknown |
Things to do
4 places to go in Cape Carteret
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Cape Carteret
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Cape Carteret
2 boat launches without a name on the map.
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 best walking months in Cape Carteret: April and May
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) | 10.1 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.3 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 56 | 59 | 65 | 72 | 79 | 85 | 88 | 87 | 83 | 75 | 66 | 59 |
| Rain (in) | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 4.0 |
April is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 7.7 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Cape Carteret →
Next door
Cape Carteret and its neighbors
Cape Carteret has the second most mapped trails of the 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Carteret | 1% | 0.3 | 1 | 57% | C |
| Bogue | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Cedar Point | 7% | 0.3 | 48 | 63% | B+ |
| Peletier | — 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 Cape Carteret
How much of Cape Carteret is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 3% for a North Carolina town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Cape Carteret’s trails?
Croatan National Forest doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Cape Carteret?
45,340 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Cape Carteret or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 12 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Cape Carteret have?
Ahead of 28% 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 Cape Carteret 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 →