Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0Shell Valley has 18 miles of mapped trails, 1.2 for every square mile of land
8% of Shell Valley’s land is conserved, about 726 acres.
Ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Shell Valley?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Shell Valley have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Shell Valley is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
726 conserved acres
8% of Shell Valley’s land. Who manages Shell Valley’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 726 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
4 places to go in Shell Valley
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
4 named trails
1.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
The best walking months in Shell Valley: August and September
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) | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 8.3 |
| High (°F) | 16 | 20 | 32 | 50 | 64 | 73 | 78 | 77 | 68 | 51 | 33 | 20 |
| Rain (in) | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
January is the driest month (0.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 78 °F). 3.9 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Shell Valley →
Shell Valley and its neighbors
Shell Valley 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shell Valley | 8% | 1.2 | under 1 | under 1% | C |
| Shell Valley Township | — 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 Shell Valley
How much of Shell Valley is conserved land?
8% 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 Shell Valley?
1.0 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.0 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Shell Valley?
5,110 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Shell Valley or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Shell Valley have?
Ahead of 34% 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 Shell Valley neighbors.
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 →