Smokey Bear Historical Park
Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Public domain · Public domainDOutdoors
Outdoors in Capitan
Few parks or trails are on the map in Capitan
4 acres are parks and preserves, 3.1 per 1,000 residents. 33% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 9% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
5 acres · of 3.3 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
4 ac
3.1 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
33%
of residents within ½ mile
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Capitan have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Capitan is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; the share of residents near a park comes closest.
D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Capitan’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical NM town 4% · U.S. 4%C−Trails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · NM 0.9 · U.S. 0.4DPark land3.1 acres of park per 1,000 residents (4 acres) · NM 7 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home33% of residents within a half mile of a park · NM 67% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 9%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Capitan. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would still be D. 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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
5 conserved acres
under 1% of Capitan’s land. Who manages Capitan’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
U.S. Forest Service5 ac
National Forest · 5 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 5 | Open |
Things to do
1 places to go in Capitan
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Capitan
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
2Baseball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Capitan: April to June
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) | 10.2 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 14.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 9.9 |
| High (°F) | 50 | 54 | 61 | 68 | 76 | 85 | 85 | 83 | 78 | 69 | 58 | 50 |
| Rain (in) | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
April is the driest month (0.5 in) and June the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 3.3 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Capitan →
Questions about parks and trails in Capitan
How much of Capitan is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 4% for a New Mexico town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Capitan’s trails?
Smokey Bear Historical Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Capitan?
83,090 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Capitan or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 8 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Capitan have?
Ahead of 9% 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 Capitan 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 →