Goose Island State Park
Managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
307 acres1.2 mi of trail
Turks Cap Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
A+Outdoors
Outdoors in Lamar
18% of Lamar’s land is conserved, and 99% of residents live within a half mile of a park
309 acres are parks and preserves, 257 per 1,000 residents. 18% of Lamar’s land is conserved, about 352 acres. The biggest trail networks: Goose Island State Park (1.2 mi).
Ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
18%
352 acres · of 3.1 sq mi of land
Trails
1.8 mi
0.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
309 ac
257 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Lamar?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Lamar have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Lamar is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; park acres per resident rank highest, trail miles lowest.
A+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Lamar’s overall grade.
Conserved land18% of the land · typical TX town 2% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · TX 0.2 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land257 acres of park per 1,000 residents (309 acres) · TX 9 · U.S. 13AParks close to home99% of residents within a half mile of a park · TX 69% · U.S. 72%A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 96%
LessMore
Few Texas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Lamar’s 18% is ahead of 94% of Texas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 76% of them.
Water is 38% of Lamar’s area (2 of 5 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 A 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 Goose Island State Park, with 1.2 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
352 conserved acres
18% of Lamar’s land. Water is left out: Lamar has 3.1 square miles of land and 1.8 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Lamar’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State parks382 ac
Joint231 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits80 ac
Conservation Easement · 389 acState Park · 305 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 47 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goose Island State Park State Park | State parks | 305 | Open |
Things to do
17 places to go in Lamar
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Lamar
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Boat launches in Lamar
3 boat launches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Picnic areas in Lamar
1 picnic area without a name on the map.
Campgrounds in Lamar
154In Goose Island State Park
DirectionsPlus 11 campgrounds without a name on the map.
Trails & water
1 named trail
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.4 mi
Turks Cap Trail0.7 mi
When to get out
April is the best month for walking in Lamar
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 | 11.2 | 11.9 | 12.8 | 13.5 | 13.9 | 13.8 | 13.1 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 10.7 | 10.4 |
| High (°F) | 65 | 68 | 73 | 78 | 84 | 89 | 91 | 92 | 89 | 83 | 74 | 67 |
| Rain (in) | 2.3 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 5.4 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.0 |
February is the driest month (1.9 in) and August the warmest (highs of 92 °F). 5.4 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 92 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Lamar →
Questions about parks and trails in Lamar
Where can I hike in Lamar?
The longest trail networks: Goose Island State Park, 1.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Lamar is conserved land?
18% 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 Lamar’s trails?
Goose Island State Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Lamar?
1,753 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Lamar or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 309 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Lamar have?
Ahead of 96% 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 Lamar 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 →