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First Grand Forks RQ-4 arrivesPhoto: Johnny Saldivar · Public domain
A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Grand Forks AFB

Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Grand Forks AFB

Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 16 miles of mapped trail cross Grand Forks AFB, 2.2 per square mile of land. 63 acres are parks and preserves, 32 per 1,000 residents.

Ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 7.5 sq mi of land
Trails
16 mi
2.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
63 ac
32 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
8.4 mi
5.7 mi paths

What kind of outdoors town is Grand Forks AFB?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Parks close to homeVirtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park.A trail town2.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 94% of U.S. towns.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Grand Forks AFB have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Grand Forks AFB is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.

A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Grand Forks AFB’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical ND town 3% · U.S. 4%DTrails2.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (16 mi) · ND 0.7 · U.S. 0.4APark land32 acres of park per 1,000 residents (63 acres) · ND 10 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · ND 71% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 77%
LessMore
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
Things to do

11 places to go in Grand Forks AFB

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Campgrounds in Grand Forks AFB
Grand Forks AFB FamCamp
Directions

Plus 1 campground without a name on the map.

Trails & water

1 named trail

Named trails
Unpaved · 14.4 mi
Sunflake Circle0.8 mi
Biking & sports

8.4 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

5.7 mi
off-road bike paths
2.7 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
4Basketball
3Softball
2Baseball
2Volleyball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

When to get out

September is the best month for walking in Grand Forks AFB

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)8.810.211.713.615.116.015.714.312.510.79.28.4
High (°F)162135536777818071543622
Rain (in)0.50.51.01.32.83.83.52.62.31.80.80.7

February is the driest month (0.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 81 °F). 3.8 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Grand Forks AFB →

Next door

Grand Forks AFB and its neighbors

Grand Forks AFB has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Mekinock Township23 miGrand Forks AFB16 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Grand Forks AFBunder 1%2.23299%+A−
Mekinock Township1%0.613894%A−

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Grand Forks AFB

How much of Grand Forks AFB is conserved land?

under 1% of its land, against a typical 3% for a North Dakota town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Where can I bike in Grand Forks AFB?

8.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 5.7 of off-road paths and 2.7 of shoulders and shared lanes.

Is there public land near Grand Forks AFB?

2,988 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Grand Forks AFB or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 63 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Grand Forks AFB have?

Ahead of 77% 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 Grand Forks AFB neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →