Foscoe Wetland Conservation Area
Managed by Blue Ridge Conservancy
10 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Foscoe
9% of Foscoe’s land is conserved: 327 acres
26 acres are parks and preserves, 21 per 1,000 residents. 29% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1.7 miles of mapped trail cross Foscoe, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
9%
327 acres · of 5.8 sq mi of land
Trails
1.7 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
26 ac
21 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
29%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
2
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Foscoe have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Foscoe is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Foscoe’s overall grade.
Conserved land9% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land21 acres of park per 1,000 residents (26 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home29% of residents within a half mile of a park · NC 51% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 55%
LessMore
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Foscoe-Grandfather Community Center and Park
Park
8 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Who protects it
327 conserved acres
9% of Foscoe’s land. Who manages Foscoe’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits184 ac
Other state land111 ac
State conservation84 ac
National Park Service8 ac
Joint5 ac
Not recorded506 ac
Private Conservation · 280 acState Park · 265 acUnknown Easement · 136 acState Other or Unknown · 113 acConservation Easement · 84 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 25 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 8 of 13 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grandfather Mountain State Park State Park | Not recorded | 265 | Closed |
| Conservation Fund Preserve Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 157 | Closed |
| Blue Ridge Conservancy Preserve Private Conservation | Not recorded | 123 | Unknown |
| NC Land and Water Fund Project State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 113 | Unknown |
| Watauga County Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 13 | Unknown |
| Blue Ridge Parkway Special Designation Area | National Park Service | 8 | Restricted |
Things to do
2 places to go in Foscoe
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Foscoe
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Campgrounds in Foscoe
Grandfather CampgroundFee
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail and 2 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.6 mi
Bryan Booe Memorial Trail0.7 mi
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
2Tennis
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Foscoe: April to August
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) | 41 | 44 | 51 | 61 | 68 | 74 | 77 | 76 | 71 | 62 | 52 | 44 |
| Rain (in) | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
February is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 77 °F). 5.4 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Foscoe →
Next door
Foscoe and its neighbors
Foscoe 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foscoe | 9% | 0.3 | 21 | 29% | B |
| Seven Devils | — 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 Foscoe
Where can I hike in Foscoe?
The longest trail networks: Foscoe-Grandfather Community Center and Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Foscoe is conserved land?
9% 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 Foscoe’s trails?
Foscoe Wetland Conservation Area and Foscoe-Grandfather Community Center and Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Foscoe?
33,023 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Foscoe or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 26 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Foscoe have?
Ahead of 55% 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 Foscoe 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 →