Deadwood Historic District · Photo: The original uploader was Gorilla Jones at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.011% of Deadwood’s land is conserved: 332 acres
4.0 miles of mapped trail cross Deadwood, 0.8 per square mile of land. 81% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 16 acres are parks and preserves, 13 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Deadwood?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Deadwood have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Deadwood is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; conserved land ranks highest, park acres per resident lowest.
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.
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
332 conserved acres
11% of Deadwood’s land. Who manages Deadwood’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 149 | Open |
| Black Hills National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 145 | Open |
| Whitewood Creek Game Production Area State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 22 | Restricted |
| 76 Sports Complex Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 15 | Open |
3 places to go in Deadwood
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
1 named trail
2.4 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.
2 places on the National Register, one a National Historic Landmark
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 3 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
The best walking months in Deadwood: August 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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 37 | 37 | 46 | 53 | 63 | 74 | 82 | 81 | 71 | 57 | 45 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
January is the driest month (1.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 4.8 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Deadwood →
Deadwood and its neighbors
Deadwood has the most mapped trails of the 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deadwood | 11% | 0.8 | 13 | 81% | A− |
| Lead | 1% | 1.8 | 4 | 91% | B |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Deadwood
How much of Deadwood is conserved land?
11% of its land, against a typical 3% for a South Dakota town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Deadwood’s trails?
Richard Gordon Memorial Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Deadwood?
2.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Deadwood?
116,984 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Deadwood or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 318 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Deadwood have?
Ahead of 78% 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 Deadwood 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 →