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Gering Courier BuildingGering Courier Building · Photo: Ammodramus · Public domain
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Gering

Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Gering

Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 4.0 miles of mapped trail cross Gering, 0.7 per square mile of land. 118 acres are parks and preserves, 14 per 1,000 residents.

Ahead of 75% of U.S. towns · #14 of 57 in Nebraska. What drives it

Conserved land
3%
91 acres · of 5.6 sq mi of land
Trails
4.0 mi
0.7 per sq mi of land
Park land
118 ac
14 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
3.8 mi
1.0 mi lanes · 2.8 mi paths

What kind of outdoors town is Gering?

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

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Gering have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Gering is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns, #14 of 57 in Nebraska. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.

B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Gering’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 75%
LessMore
Nebraska towns of 2,500+ (57)Ahead of 77%
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.

1234
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 Oregon Trail Park, with 0.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Oregon Trail Park

Park
72 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

McLellan Park

Park
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Northfield Park

Park
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Hampton Park

Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 10 parks & preserves
Oregon Trail Park72 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Directions
McLellan Park6 acres
Directions
Northfield Park6 acres
Directions
Hampton Park3 acres
Union Pacific Park3 acres
Legion Park3 acres
Directions
Gardner Park2 acres
Directions
Johannes Park2 acres
Directions
Carl Gray Park2 acres
Directions
Gentry Park2 acres
Who protects it

91 conserved acres

3% of Gering’s land. Who manages Gering’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city84 ac
National Park Service7 ac
Local Park · 84 acNational Monument · 7 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Oregon Trail Park
Local Park
Town or city56Open
Scotts Bluff National Monument
National Monument
National Park Service7Open
Northfield Park
Local Park
Town or city5Open
Hampton Park
Local Park
Town or city5Open
Mclellan Park
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Johannes Park
Local Park
Town or city4Open
Union Pacific Park
Local Park
Town or city3Open
Gardner Park
Local Park
Town or city2Open
Legion Park
Local Park
Town or city2Open
Gentry Park
Local Park
Town or city1Open

1 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

15 places to go in Gering

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

Public pools in Gering
Gering Municipal Swimming PoolIn Oregon Trail Park
Directions
Biking & sports

3.8 miles of bike routes

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

1.0 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
2.8 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
9Baseball
8Basketball
6Tennis
6Pickleball
1Golf
1Soccer
1Football
1Skate park

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

History along the way

3 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Severin Sorensen HouseBuilding · listed 1983
About it
Scotts Bluff County CourthouseBuilding · listed 1990
About it
Gering Courier BuildingBuilding · listed 2004
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Gering: April, June 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.510.511.813.314.515.214.913.812.411.09.89.1
High (°F)414454627183908879645141
Rain (in)0.30.40.81.72.92.41.91.41.41.20.50.4

January is the driest month (0.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 2.9 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Gering →

Next door

Gering and its neighbors

Gering has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Gering3%0.71499%+B+
Terrytown6%1.36499%+A+
Scottsbluff7%0.22592%B+

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

Questions about parks and trails in Gering

Where can I hike in Gering?

The longest trail networks: Oregon Trail Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Gering is conserved land?

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

Are dogs allowed on Gering’s trails?

Oregon Trail Park and McLellan Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Gering?

3.8 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.0 of painted or protected lanes and 2.8 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Gering?

15,023 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Gering or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 118 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Gering have?

Ahead of 75% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #14 of 57 in Nebraska. 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 Gering 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 →