Blue Clay Bike Park
Park
45 acres1.7 mi of trail
Blue Clay Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Skippers Corner
Skippers Corner has 161 acres of parks, 42 for every 1,000 residents
The biggest trail networks: Blue Clay Bike Park (1.7 mi). 8% of Skippers Corner’s land is conserved, about 375 acres. 2.8 miles of mapped trail cross Skippers Corner, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns · #38 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Conserved land
8%
375 acres · of 7.0 sq mi of land
Trails
2.8 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
161 ac
42 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
62%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.8 mi
0.8 mi paths
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Skippers Corner have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Skippers Corner is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns, #38 of 290 in North Carolina. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, the share of residents near a park lowest.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Skippers Corner’s overall grade.
Conserved land8% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4BPark land42 acres of park per 1,000 residents (161 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home62% 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 73%
LessMore
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 87%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A−. 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 Blue Clay Bike Park, with 1.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
375 conserved acres
8% of Skippers Corner’s land. Who manages Skippers Corner’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County54 ac
Town or city1 ac
Not recorded375 ac
Local Other or Unknown · 317 acState Other or Unknown · 58 acLocal Park · 55 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 5 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hanover County Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 317 | Unknown |
| Horticultural Crops (Castle Hayne) Research Station State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 57 | Unknown |
| New Hanover County Park Local Park | County | 54 | Open |
| Blue Clay Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| NC Hazard Mitigation Buyout Property - New Hanover County State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Unknown |
Things to do
1 places to go in Skippers Corner
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Skippers Corner
1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
1 named trail
Named trails
Unpaved · 0.5 mi
Blue Clay Trail1.7 mi
Biking & sports
0.8 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.8 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
1Baseball
1Basketball
1Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Skippers Corner: 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 | 13.9 | 14.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 9.9 |
| High (°F) | 57 | 60 | 67 | 74 | 81 | 87 | 90 | 88 | 84 | 76 | 67 | 60 |
| Rain (in) | 3.9 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 7.3 | 8.0 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
April is the driest month (3.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 8.0 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Skippers Corner →
Next door
Skippers Corner and its neighbors
Skippers Corner has the most mapped trails of the 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skippers Corner | 8% | 0.4 | 42 | 62% | B+ |
| Castle Hayne | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Wrightsboro | under 1% | 0.1 | 2 | 12% | D |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Skippers Corner
Where can I hike in Skippers Corner?
The longest trail networks: Blue Clay Bike Park, 1.7 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Skippers Corner is conserved land?
8% 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 Skippers Corner’s trails?
Blue Clay Bike Park and Castle Hayne Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Skippers Corner?
0.8 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.8 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Skippers Corner?
5,046 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Skippers Corner or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 161 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Skippers Corner have?
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #38 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 Skippers Corner 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 →