El Malpais National Conservation Area
Managed by Bureau of Land Management
71 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Charley's Automotive Service · Photo: Bill Eichelberger · CC BY-SA 4.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Grants
Grants has 15 miles of mapped trails, 1.0 for every square mile of land
7% of Grants’ land is conserved, about 653 acres. 77% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 152 acres are parks and preserves, 17 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns · #22 of 73 in New Mexico. What drives it
Conserved land
7%
653 acres · of 14.9 sq mi of land
Trails
15 mi
1.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
152 ac
17 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
77%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.9 mi
1.9 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Grants?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Grants have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Grants is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #22 of 73 in New Mexico. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; trail miles rank highest, park acres per resident lowest.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Grants’ overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical NM town 4% · U.S. 4%B+Trails1.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (15 mi) · NM 0.9 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land17 acres of park per 1,000 residents (152 acres) · NM 7 · U.S. 13BParks close to home77% of residents within a half mile of a park · NM 67% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 78%
LessMore
New Mexico towns of 2,500+ (73)Ahead of 71%
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Truman Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
653 conserved acres
7% of Grants’ land. Who manages Grants’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Bureau of Land Management487 ac
National Park Service107 ac
Town or city42 ac
State land board17 ac
National Public Lands · 487 acNational Monument · 107 acLocal Park · 42 acState Resource Management Area · 17 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rio Puerco Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 487 | Open |
| El Malpais National Monument National Monument | National Park Service | 107 | Open |
| Wells Park Local Park | Town or city | 17 | Open |
| State Trust Land State Resource Management Area | State land board | 17 | Open |
| Kerr Mcgee Park Local Park | Town or city | 10 | Open |
| San Jose Park Local Park | Town or city | 10 | Open |
| Mesa Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
Things to do
3 places to go in Grants
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Grants
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Campgrounds in Grants
Lavaland RV ParkHours: Open 24 hours
DirectionsTrails & water
2 named trails
Named trails
Unpaved · 0.6 mi
Visitor West Loop0.2 mi
Visitor East Loop0.2 mi
Biking & sports
1.9 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.9 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
10Tennis
4Multi-sport
4Basketball
2Baseball
1Equestrian
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Grants: 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) | 10.0 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.3 | 11.2 | 10.3 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 48 | 52 | 60 | 67 | 77 | 88 | 89 | 86 | 80 | 70 | 57 | 47 |
| Rain (in) | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
February is the driest month (0.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 2.0 inches fall in August, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Grants →
Next door
Grants and its neighbors
Grants 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants | 7% | 1.0 | 17 | 77% | A− |
| San Rafael | 10% | 0.5 | under 1 | under 1% | C |
| Milan | under 1% | 0.6 | 3 | 58% | C |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Grants
How much of Grants is conserved land?
7% 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 Grants’ trails?
El Malpais National Conservation Area and Truman Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Grants?
1.9 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.9 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Grants?
145,024 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Grants or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 656 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Grants have?
Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #22 of 73 in New Mexico. 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 Grants 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 →