Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Rocky Top
11 acres are parks and preserves, 6.6 per 1,000 residents. 78% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.3 miles of mapped trail cross Rocky Top, 0.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. What drives it
How much outdoors does Rocky Top have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Rocky Top is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
Few Tennessee towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Rocky Top’s 1% is ahead of 36% of Tennessee towns, while its trails per square mile lead 51% of them.
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.
10 conserved acres
1% of Rocky Top’s land. Who manages Rocky Top’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Templin Memorial Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 7 | Open |
| Ballfield Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 3 | Open |
4 places to go in Rocky Top
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
3 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.
The best walking months in Rocky Top: April to June
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) | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 46 | 51 | 61 | 71 | 78 | 84 | 87 | 86 | 81 | 71 | 59 | 50 |
| Rain (in) | 4.9 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 4.4 | 5.7 |
October is the driest month (3.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 5.7 inches fall in December, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Rocky Top →
Questions about parks and trails in Rocky Top
How much of Rocky Top is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 1% for a Tennessee town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Is there public land near Rocky Top?
4,534 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Rocky Top or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 11 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Rocky Top have?
Ahead of 36% 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 Rocky Top 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 →