French Creek Wildlife Management Area
Nature preserve
2,249 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Photo: Smerdis · CC BY-SA 4.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Clayton
Clayton has 1,265 acres of parks, 269 for every 1,000 residents
14% of Clayton’s land is conserved, about 7,404 acres. 40% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 32 miles of mapped trail cross Clayton, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 76% of U.S. towns · #276 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Conserved land
14%
7,404 acres · of 82.5 sq mi of land
Trails
32 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
1,265 ac
269 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
40%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
404 ft
Fox Hill
Lakes & rivers
3
1 beach · 8 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Clayton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Clayton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Clayton is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns, #276 of 758 in New York. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Clayton’s overall grade.
Conserved land14% of the land · typical NY town 5% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (32 mi) · NY 0.4 · U.S. 0.4BPark land269 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1,265 acres) · NY 31 · U.S. 13AParks close to home40% of residents within a half mile of a park · NY 70% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 76%
LessMore
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 64%
Water is 21% of Clayton’s area (22 of 104 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 11%.
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.
Canoe-Picnic Point State Park
Managed by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
72 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Who protects it
7,404 conserved acres
14% of Clayton’s land. Water is left out: Clayton has 82.5 square miles of land and 21.7 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Clayton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits7,928 ac
State conservation2,256 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)203 ac
State parks76 ac
Other state land34 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government30 ac
Town or city1 ac
Conservation Easement · 4,099 acPrivate Conservation · 4,032 acState Resource Management Area · 2,290 acState Park · 76 acLocal Park · 29 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 2,189 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 103 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| French Creek Wma State Resource Management Area | State conservation | 2,256 | Open |
| Thousand Islands Land Trust Land Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 1,606 | Closed |
| Chaumont Barrens Preserve Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 1,142 | Open |
| Chaumont Barrens Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 1,142 | Open |
| Three Mile Creek Barrens Preserve Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 141 | Restricted |
| Canoe Picnic Point State Park State Park | State parks | 76 | Open |
| Gordon D Cerow Recreation Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 27 | Open |
| French Creek State Resource Management Area | Other state land | 18 | Open |
| Cape Vincent State Correctional Facility State Resource Management Area | Other state land | 16 | Open |
| Clayton Village Lands Local Resource Management Area | Other or Unknown Local Government | 2 | Open |
1 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
15 places to go in Clayton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Clayton
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Playgrounds in Clayton
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Clayton
8 boat launches without a name on the map.
Peaks in Clayton
Fox Hill404 ft elevation
DirectionsSchnauber Hill397 ft elevation
DirectionsMcCarn Hill374 ft elevation
DirectionsCampgrounds in Clayton
1 campground without a name on the map.
Trails & water
3 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Sissy Danforth Rivergate Trail1.4 mi
Rusho Bay0.7 mi
Grenell0.4 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
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.
Sissy Danforth Rivergate TrailBike route
1.4 miCourts & fields
7Baseball
3Tennis
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →5 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Clayton: May to 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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 28 | 30 | 40 | 54 | 67 | 75 | 80 | 78 | 71 | 58 | 46 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 3.3 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 3.4 |
February is the driest month (2.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.3 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Clayton →
Next door
Clayton and its neighbors
Clayton has the most mapped trails of the 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clayton | 14% | 0.4 | 269 | 40% | A− |
| Orleans | 18% | 0.2 | 1,066 | 21% | B+ |
| Lyme | 14% | under 0.1 | 471 | 50% | B |
| Thousand Island Park | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Brownville | 7% | 0.1 | 33 | 45% | B− |
| Cape Vincent | 9% | 0.3 | 38 | 58% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Clayton
How much of Clayton is conserved land?
14% of its land, against a typical 5% for a New York town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Clayton’s trails?
French Creek Wildlife Management Area and Canoe-Picnic Point State Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Clayton?
20,730 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Clayton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 3,566 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Clayton have?
Ahead of 76% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #276 of 758 in New York. 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 Clayton 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 →