Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 3.0Wise has 2 acres of parks, 0.8 for every 1,000 residents
0.4 miles of mapped trail cross Wise, 0.1 per square mile of land. 55% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns · #244 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Wise?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Wise have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Wise is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #244 of 253 in Virginia. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; the share of residents near a park comes closest.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
1 conserved acres
under 1% of Wise’s land. Who manages Wise’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 1 | Open |
3 places to go in Wise
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Wise: April to June 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) | 41 | 45 | 54 | 64 | 71 | 77 | 80 | 79 | 75 | 65 | 54 | 45 |
| Rain (in) | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 5.4 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 4.5 |
October is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 5.4 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Wise →
Wise and its neighbors
Wise has the second most mapped trails of the 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wise | under 1% | 0.1 | 1 | 55% | D |
| The University of Virginia's College at Wise | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Wise
How much of Wise 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 Wise’s trails?
Arrowhead Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Wise?
42,099 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Wise or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 3 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Wise have?
Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #244 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 Wise neighbors.
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 →