Swanton Covered Railroad Bridge · Photo: Chester Liebs · Public domain27% of Highgate’s land is conserved: 8,835 acres
456 acres are parks and preserves, 129 per 1,000 residents. 13% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 12 miles of mapped trail cross Highgate, 0.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 67% of U.S. towns · #56 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Highgate?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Highgate have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Highgate is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #56 of 71 in Vermont. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
Vermont towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 14%; the U.S., 4%), so Highgate’s 27% is ahead of 90% of Vermont towns, while its trails per square mile lead 11% of them.
Water is 15% of Highgate’s area (9 of 60 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 23%.
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.
8,835 conserved acres
27% of Highgate’s land. Water is left out: Highgate has 51.0 square miles of land and 9.0 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Highgate’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 5,491 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 83 of 215 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 5,774 | Restricted |
| Rock River Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 413 | Open |
| Highgate State Park State Park | Not recorded | 31 | Open |
| Rock River Access State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 6 | Open |
| The Nature Conservancy Restriction Conservation Easement | Land trusts & nonprofits | 2 | Unknown |
6 places to go in Highgate
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.
1 boat launch without a name on the map.
2 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers
7.2 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 Highgate: May, August and September
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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 26 | 29 | 38 | 53 | 67 | 75 | 80 | 78 | 70 | 57 | 44 | 32 |
| Rain (in) | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
February is the driest month (2.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.4 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Highgate →
Highgate and its neighbors
Highgate has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Highgate
How much of Highgate is conserved land?
27% of its land, against a typical 14% for a Vermont town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Highgate?
7.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 7.2 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Highgate?
7,969 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Highgate or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 463 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Highgate have?
Ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #56 of 71 in Vermont. 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 Highgate 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 →