Penhook State Boat Ramp
Park
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Brooks-Brown House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainC+Outdoors
Outdoors in Penhook
Penhook has 15 miles of mapped trails, 1.3 for every square mile of land
6% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 6 acres are parks and preserves, 4.6 per 1,000 residents. 2% of Penhook’s land is conserved, about 146 acres.
Ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
2%
146 acres · of 11.2 sq mi of land
Trails
15 mi
1.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
6 ac
4.6 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
6%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Penhook?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Penhook have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Penhook is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Penhook’s overall grade.
Conserved land2% of the land · typical VA town 4% · U.S. 4%C+Trails1.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (15 mi) · VA 0.7 · U.S. 0.4APark land4.6 acres of park per 1,000 residents (6 acres) · VA 8 · U.S. 13CParks close to home6% of residents within a half mile of a park · VA 76% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 36%
LessMore
Water is 12% of Penhook’s area (2 of 13 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 2%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. 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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
146 conserved acres
2% of Penhook’s land. Water is left out: Penhook has 11.2 square miles of land and 1.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Penhook’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State conservation146 ac
Other state land146 ac
Conservation Easement · 146 acUnknown Easement · 146 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 146 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 2 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
Things to do
1 places to go in Penhook
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Penhook
1 boat launch 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
108Golf
4Tennis
1Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Penhook: April and August
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 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.1 | 9.6 |
| High (°F) | 47 | 51 | 59 | 70 | 77 | 84 | 87 | 85 | 79 | 69 | 59 | 50 |
| Rain (in) | 3.6 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
February is the driest month (2.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 87 °F). 4.5 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 87 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Penhook →
Next door
Penhook and its neighbors
Penhook has the most mapped trails of the 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penhook | 2% | 1.3 | 5 | 6% | C+ |
| Union Hall | under 1% | 0.7 | under 1 | under 1% | D |
| North Shore | under 1% | 0.4 | 13 | under 1% | C− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Penhook
How much of Penhook is conserved land?
2% of its land, against a typical 4% for a Virginia town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Penhook’s trails?
Penhook State Boat Ramp doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Penhook?
4,179 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Penhook or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 6 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Penhook 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 Penhook 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 →