Gamewell Optimist Park
Park
13 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Westla · CC BY-SA 3.0DOutdoors
Outdoors in Gamewell
Few parks or trails are on the map in Gamewell
20% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.4 miles of mapped trail cross Gamewell. 26 acres are parks and preserves, 7.1 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns · #246 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
21 acres · of 8.1 sq mi of land
Trails
0.4 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
26 ac
7.1 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
20%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.4 mi
0.4 mi paths
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Gamewell have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Gamewell is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #246 of 290 in North Carolina. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; park acres per resident come closest.
D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Gamewell’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%C−Trails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4C−Park land7.1 acres of park per 1,000 residents (26 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home20% 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 14%
LessMore
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 15%
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Gamewell. 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 D 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
21 conserved acres
under 1% of Gamewell’s land. Who manages Gamewell’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State conservation8 ac
Not recorded12 ac
Local Other or Unknown · 12 acConservation Easement · 8 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 8 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 3 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Town of Gamewell - Gamewell Park Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 12 | Unknown |
Things to do
1 places to go in Gamewell
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Gamewell
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Biking & sports
0.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
3Baseball
2Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Gamewell: 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) | 10.0 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.0 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 50 | 55 | 62 | 72 | 79 | 86 | 89 | 87 | 82 | 72 | 62 | 53 |
| Rain (in) | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 |
February is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 4.8 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Gamewell →
Next door
Gamewell and its neighbors
Gamewell 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamewell | under 1% | under 0.1 | 7 | 20% | D |
| Lenoir | 7% | 0.5 | 18 | 57% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Gamewell
How much of Gamewell is conserved land?
under 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 Gamewell’s trails?
Gamewell Optimist Park and Gamewell Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Gamewell?
0.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Gamewell?
32,423 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Gamewell or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 26 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Gamewell have?
Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #246 of 290 in North Carolina. 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 Gamewell 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 →