Few parks or trails are on the map in Fairplains
30% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 19 acres are parks and preserves, 11 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 16% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Fairplains have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Fairplains is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; park acres per resident come closest.
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.
21 conserved acres
1% of Fairplains’ land. Who manages Fairplains’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
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.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilkes County Open Space Local Park | Town or city | 21 | Open |
| Wilkes County Open Space - Edwin H. McGee Natural Resource Center Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 14 | Unknown |
1 lakes & rivers
The best walking months in Fairplains: April to June
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) | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 49 | 53 | 61 | 70 | 78 | 85 | 88 | 86 | 81 | 71 | 61 | 52 |
| Rain (in) | 4.2 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
February is the driest month (3.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 88 °F). 5.1 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 88 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Fairplains →
Fairplains and its neighbors
Fairplains has the second most mapped trails of the 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairplains | 1% | under 0.1 | 11 | 30% | C− |
| North Wilkesboro | 18% | 0.2 | 164 | 96% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Fairplains
How much of Fairplains 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.
Is there public land near Fairplains?
6,240 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Fairplains or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 19 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Fairplains have?
Ahead of 16% 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 Fairplains 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 →