Mallows Bay – Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary
Managed by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration;State of Maryland;Charles County
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Photo: Staff Sgt. Ezekiel Kitandwe · Public domainCOutdoors
Outdoors in Quantico Base
Quantico Base has 37 miles of mapped trails, 5.3 for every square mile of land
46% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 31% of U.S. towns · #216 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 7.0 sq mi of land
Trails
37 mi
5.3 per sq mi of land
Near a park
46%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.9 mi
0.5 mi lanes · 0.3 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
2
What kind of outdoors town is Quantico Base?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Quantico Base have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Quantico Base is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns, #216 of 253 in Virginia. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Quantico Base’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical VA town 4% · U.S. 4%DTrails5.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (37 mi) · VA 0.7 · U.S. 0.4A+Park land0.1 acres of park per 1,000 residents (0 acres) · VA 8 · U.S. 13DParks close to home46% of residents within a half mile of a park · VA 76% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 31%
LessMore
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 15%
Water is 14% of Quantico Base’s area (1 of 8 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read under 1%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D 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.
Things to do
34 places to go in Quantico Base
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Quantico Base
Baseball Parade Ground
Directions33 playgrounds are on OpenStreetMap in all; the list shows named ones from the first 30.
Dog parks in Quantico Base
1 dog park without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
25 named trails and 2 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Open to bikes · 21.4 miUnpaved · 22.1 mi
Geiger Loop1.6 mi
Pipeline Trail1.5 mi
Stadium1.3 mi
Woodpecker1.1 mi
Heartbreak Ridge1.1 mi
Beaver Pond1.0 mi
Mt. Laurel0.9 mi
Sewer0.9 mi
School House0.8 mi
Old Butts0.7 mi
15 more trails
Scout
0.7 miElevator
0.7 miLimbo
0.7 miBattery
0.7 miBiker's Bumps
0.6 miTrench
0.6 miMontezuma's Revenge
0.6 miRonny's Run
0.5 miAmbush Alley
0.5 miCreek Run Extension East
0.5 miRidge Trail
0.5 miGeiger Ridge Trail
0.5 miCreek Run
0.5 miJohn Henry
0.4 miBobsled
0.4 miLakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.9 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.5 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
0.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
18Basketball
2Football
2Tennis
1Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 2 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
When to get out
The best walking months in Quantico Base: 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) | 9.8 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 14.6 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.5 |
| High (°F) | 45 | 49 | 57 | 68 | 76 | 84 | 89 | 87 | 80 | 69 | 59 | 49 |
| Rain (in) | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 3.4 |
February is the driest month (2.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 4.3 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Quantico Base →
Next door
Quantico Base and its neighbors
Quantico Base 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantico Base | under 1% | 5.3 | under 1 | 46% | C |
| Triangle | 7% | 0.4 | 4 | 63% | B− |
| Cherry Hill | 3% | 1.8 | 7 | 87% | B+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Quantico Base
How much of Quantico Base is conserved land?
under 1% 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 Quantico Base’s trails?
Mallows Bay – Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Quantico Base?
0.9 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.5 of painted or protected lanes and 0.3 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Quantico Base?
12,350 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Quantico Base or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), almost none of it inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Quantico Base have?
Ahead of 31% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #216 of 253 in Virginia. 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 Quantico Base 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 →