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COutdoors
Outdoors in Penitas

Penitas has 8.1 miles of mapped trails, 0.9 for every square mile of land

The biggest trail networks: Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area - Penitas Unit (2.7 mi). 3 acres are parks and preserves, 0.5 per 1,000 residents. 8% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 28% of U.S. towns · #440 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Conserved land
2%
143 acres · of 9.4 sq mi of land
Trails
8.1 mi
0.9 per sq mi of land
Park land
3 ac
0.5 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
8%
of residents within ½ mile

What kind of outdoors town is Penitas?

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

A trail town0.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 77% of U.S. towns.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Penitas have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Penitas is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #440 of 642 in Texas. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.

C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Penitas’ overall grade.
Conserved land2% of the land · typical TX town 2% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (8 mi) · TX 0.2 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land0.5 acres of park per 1,000 residents (3 acres) · TX 9 · U.S. 13DParks close to home8% of residents within a half mile of a park · TX 69% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 28%
LessMore
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 32%

Few Texas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Penitas’ 2% is ahead of 61% of Texas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 86% of them.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. 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

The longest trail network is Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area - Penitas Unit, with 2.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area - Penitas Unit

Managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
112 acres2.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge

Managed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service
17 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it

143 conserved acres

2% of Penitas’ land. Who manages Penitas’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State fish & wildlife119 ac
Joint118 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service35 ac
Private owners4 ac
State Conservation Area · 119 acOther Easement · 118 acNational Wildlife Refuge · 35 acLocal Park · 2 acConservation Easement · 2 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 5 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area
State Conservation Area
State fish & wildlife119Restricted
Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service35Restricted
Peñitas City Park
Local Park
Private owners2Open
Things to do

2 places to go in Penitas

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

Playgrounds in Penitas

1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.

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
1Basketball
1Soccer

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

When to get out

The walking year in Penitas

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)10.711.211.912.813.413.813.613.112.311.510.810.5
High (°F)717682889297989994887972
Rain (in)0.90.81.21.42.52.82.21.94.62.21.31.0

February is the driest month (0.8 in) and August the warmest (highs of 99 °F). 4.6 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 99 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Penitas →

Next door

Penitas and its neighbors

Penitas has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Penitas8.1 miLa Joya3.3 miAbram1.6 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Penitas2%0.9under 18%C
La Joyaunder 1%0.8362%C+
Abram17%0.5under 1under 1%C

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Penitas

Where can I hike in Penitas?

The longest trail networks: Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area - Penitas Unit, 2.7 miles; Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Penitas is conserved land?

2% 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 Penitas’ trails?

Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area - Penitas Unit and Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Penitas?

2,054 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Penitas or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 3 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Penitas have?

Ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #440 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 Penitas 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 →