Locust City Park
Managed by City of Locust
22 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Reed Gold Mine · Photo: Bang-Ning Hsu from Durham (NC, USA), Taiwan · CC BY-SA 2.0COutdoors
Outdoors in Locust
Few parks or trails are on the map in Locust
40% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 4.2 miles of mapped trail cross Locust, 0.5 per square mile of land. 49 acres are parks and preserves, 8.4 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 35% of U.S. towns · #162 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
48 acres · of 8.7 sq mi of land
Trails
4.2 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
49 ac
8.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
40%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.7 mi
0.7 mi paths
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Locust have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Locust is ahead of 35% of U.S. towns, #162 of 290 in North Carolina. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Locust’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%CTrails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (4 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4BPark land8.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (49 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home40% 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 35%
LessMore
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 44%
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
The longest trail network is Locust City Park, with 0.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
48 conserved acres
1% of Locust’s land. Who manages Locust’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Not recorded48 ac
Local Recreation Area · 38 acState Historic or Cultural Area · 8 acState Other or Unknown · 1 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 2 of 3 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Locust - Locust Community Park Local Recreation Area | Not recorded | 38 | Open |
| Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site State Historic or Cultural Area | Not recorded | 8 | Unknown |
| NC Department of Transportation Mitigation Site State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Unknown |
Biking & sports
0.7 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.7 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
2Baseball
2Tennis
2Softball
1Golf
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Locust: 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) | 10.0 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.3 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 52 | 56 | 64 | 73 | 81 | 87 | 90 | 88 | 83 | 73 | 63 | 55 |
| Rain (in) | 3.7 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
February is the driest month (3.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 4.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Locust →
Next door
Locust and its neighbors
Locust has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Locust
Where can I hike in Locust?
The longest trail networks: Locust City Park, 0.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Locust 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 Locust’s trails?
Locust City Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Locust?
0.7 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.7 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Locust?
1,817 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Locust or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 49 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Locust have?
Ahead of 35% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #162 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 Locust 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 →