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Vale, OregonPhoto: Jo Levine · CC BY 2.0
BOutdoors
Outdoors in Vale

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

Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 3.7 miles of mapped trail cross Vale, 3.2 per square mile of land. 17 acres are parks and preserves, 7.2 per 1,000 residents.

Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 1.2 sq mi of land
Trails
3.7 mi
3.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
17 ac
7.2 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.2 mi
0.2 mi paths

What kind of outdoors town is Vale?

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

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Vale have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Vale is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.

B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Vale’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 62%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ 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.

12
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.

Wadleigh City Park

Park
13 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Cottonwood City Park

Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do

9 places to go in Vale

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

Campgrounds in Vale
RV Park
Directions
Trails & water

1 named trail

Named trails
Short Street North0.2 mi
Biking & sports

0.2 miles of bike routes

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

0.2 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
4Tennis
4Multi-sport
3Baseball
2Running tracks
1Football
1Basketball

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

History along the way

5 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →
Old Stone HouseBuilding · listed 1972
About it
Vale Hotel and Grand Opera HouseBuilding · listed 1984
About it
First Bank of ValeBuilding · listed 1992
About it
Vale Drug StoreBuilding · listed 2002
About it
Rex TheaterBuilding · listed 2022
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Vale: April to 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)9.210.411.813.414.715.515.214.012.410.99.68.9
High (°F)384657657582939281664938
Rain (in)1.10.80.90.91.30.80.30.20.40.70.91.3

August is the driest month (0.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 93 °F). 1.3 inches fall in December, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 93 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Vale →

Questions about parks and trails in Vale

How much of Vale is conserved land?

under 1% of its land, against a typical 4% for an Oregon town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Vale’s trails?

Wadleigh City Park and Cottonwood City Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Vale?

0.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.2 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Vale?

65,378 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Vale or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 17 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Vale have?

Ahead of 62% 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 Vale 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 →