Jack Brooks Park
Managed by Galveston County
360 acres1.3 mi of trail
Unnamed TrailHiking Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Nsaum75 · CC BY-SA 3.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Hitchcock
Hitchcock has 702 acres of parks, 93 for every 1,000 residents
11% of Hitchcock’s land is conserved, about 4,226 acres. The biggest trail networks: Jack Brooks Park (1.3 mi). 35 miles of mapped trail cross Hitchcock, 0.6 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 76% of U.S. towns · #82 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Conserved land
11%
4,226 acres · of 60.4 sq mi of land
Trails
35 mi
0.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
702 ac
93 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
42%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
6
2 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Hitchcock?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Hitchcock have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hitchcock is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns, #82 of 642 in Texas. 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 Hitchcock’s overall grade.
Conserved land11% of the land · typical TX town 2% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (35 mi) · TX 0.2 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land93 acres of park per 1,000 residents (702 acres) · TX 9 · U.S. 13AParks close to home42% of residents within a half mile of a park · TX 69% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 76%
LessMore
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 87%
Few Texas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Hitchcock’s 11% is ahead of 91% of Texas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 75% of them.
Water is 34% of Hitchcock’s area (32 of 92 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 7%.
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
The longest trail network is Jack Brooks Park, with 1.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Carbide Park
Managed by Galveston County
5 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
4,226 conserved acres
11% of Hitchcock’s land. Water is left out: Hitchcock has 60.4 square miles of land and 31.7 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Hitchcock’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits5,056 ac
Other state land1,351 ac
Joint900 ac
Private owners884 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government12 ac
Regional agency12 ac
Town or city12 ac
Conservation Easement · 5,156 acPrivate Conservation · 2,349 acState Park · 678 acLocal Recreation Area · 26 acRecreation or Education Easement · 26 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,168 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 2 of 24 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierce Marsh Preserve Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 1,235 | Closed |
| Scenic Galveston Preserves Complex Private Conservation | Private owners | 884 | Closed |
| Jack Brooks Park State Park | Other state land | 678 | Open |
| North Deer Island Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 164 | Closed |
| McFarlane Marsh Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 66 | Closed |
| Unknown Park Local Recreation Area | Not recorded | 13 | Open |
| Bulldog Stadium And Athletic Fields Local Recreation Area | Other or Unknown Local Government | 12 | Open |
| Carbide Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| Mahan Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Hitchcock
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Hitchcock
2 boat launches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
2 named trails and 6 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.3 mi
Unnamed Trail1.0 mi
Hiking Trail0.4 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.
Courts & fields
7Baseball
2Tennis
1Football
1Equestrian
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 6 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
Stringfellow OrchardsBuilding · listed 2013
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Hitchcock: April and May
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) | 10.5 | 11.1 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 13.6 | 14.0 | 13.8 | 13.2 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 10.3 |
| High (°F) | 62 | 65 | 70 | 76 | 82 | 88 | 90 | 90 | 87 | 80 | 71 | 64 |
| Rain (in) | 4.3 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 5.2 | 6.4 | 5.1 | 4.0 | 4.2 |
February is the driest month (2.8 in) and August the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 6.4 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Hitchcock →
Next door
Hitchcock and its neighbors
Hitchcock has the most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Hitchcock
Where can I hike in Hitchcock?
The longest trail networks: Jack Brooks Park, 1.3 miles; Carbide Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Hitchcock is conserved land?
11% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Texas town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Hitchcock’s trails?
Jack Brooks Park and Carbide Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Hitchcock?
7,624 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hitchcock or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 702 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Hitchcock have?
Ahead of 76% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #82 of 642 in Texas. 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 Hitchcock 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 →