Herman's, Roy T., Garage and Service Station · Photo: Bill Eichelberger · CC BY-SA 4.0Thoreau has 62 miles of mapped trails, 1.6 for every square mile of land
9% of Thoreau’s land is conserved, about 2,284 acres.
Ahead of 37% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Thoreau?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Thoreau have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Thoreau is ahead of 37% 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.
2,284 conserved acres
9% of Thoreau’s land. Who manages Thoreau’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 542 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmington Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 876 | Open |
| State Trust Land State Resource Management Area | State land board | 866 | Open |
8 places to go in Thoreau
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
5 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
0.0 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.
1 place 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.
The best walking months in Thoreau: April to August
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 | 10.2 | 9.8 |
| High (°F) | 43 | 46 | 55 | 62 | 72 | 83 | 85 | 82 | 76 | 66 | 53 | 43 |
| Rain (in) | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 |
April is the driest month (0.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 2.2 inches fall in August, the wettest month. The climate in Thoreau →
Questions about parks and trails in Thoreau
How much of Thoreau is conserved land?
9% 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.
Is there public land near Thoreau?
130,520 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Thoreau or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,745 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Thoreau have?
Ahead of 37% 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 Thoreau 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 →