Tam O'Shanter Park
Managed by City of Kelso
42 acres0.5 mi of trail
Coweeman River Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat) · CC BY-SA 3.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Kelso
Kelso has 6.2 miles of mapped trails, 0.8 for every square mile of land
The biggest trail networks: Tam O'Shanter Park (0.5 mi). 8% of Kelso’s land is conserved, about 427 acres. 87% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 71% of U.S. towns · #144 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Conserved land
8%
427 acres · of 8.1 sq mi of land
Trails
6.2 mi
0.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
93 ac
7.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
87%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.9 mi
1.0 mi lanes · 1.8 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Kelso?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Kelso have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Kelso is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #144 of 285 in Washington. Trail miles hold the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Kelso’s overall grade.
Conserved land8% of the land · typical WA town 4% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (6 mi) · WA 0.8 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land7.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (93 acres) · WA 11 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home87% of residents within a half mile of a park · WA 92% · U.S. 72%B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 71%
LessMore
Washington towns of 2,500+ (285)Ahead of 50%
Water is 8% of Kelso’s area (1 of 9 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 8%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A−. 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
The longest trail network is Tam O'Shanter Park, with 0.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Manasco Fields
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Catlin Rotary Spray Park
Park
1 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
All 5 parks & preserves
Tam O'Shanter Park42 acres · 0.5 mi of trail · City of Kelso
DirectionsRotary Park3 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
DirectionsCatlin Rotary Spray Park1 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
DirectionsManasco Fields2 acres
Scot Hollow Park1 acres · City of Kelso
Who protects it
427 conserved acres
8% of Kelso’s land. Water is left out: Kelso has 8.1 square miles of land and 0.7 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Kelso’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County51 ac
Town or city46 ac
State natural resources40 ac
Not recorded327 ac
Local Other or Unknown · 379 acLocal Park · 45 acState Recreation Area · 40 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 2 of 9 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loth258 Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 327 | Unknown |
| Loth198 Local Other or Unknown | County | 51 | Unknown |
| Unknown Recreation Area State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 40 | Open |
| Tom Oshanter Park Local Park | Town or city | 37 | Open |
| Highland Park Local Park | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| Manasco Fields Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Loth69 Local Other or Unknown | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Scot Hollow Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Catlin Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
17 places to go in Kelso
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Kelso
Catlin Rotary Spray ParkIn Catlin Rotary Spray Park
DirectionsThe Family Room
DirectionsPlus 14 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Disc golf in Kelso
Tam O'Shanter Disc Golf
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail
Named trails
Unpaved · 3.9 mi
Coweeman River Trail3.8 mi
Biking & sports
2.9 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.0 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
1.8 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
8Soccer
8Baseball
8Tracks
6Tennis
5Basketball
4Softball
2Football
1Multi-sport
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 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 Kelso: April to 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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.6 |
| High (°F) | 47 | 51 | 56 | 61 | 68 | 73 | 80 | 80 | 75 | 63 | 52 | 45 |
| Rain (in) | 6.6 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 4.3 | 7.1 | 7.5 |
July is the driest month (0.6 in) and August the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 7.5 inches fall in December, the wettest month. The climate in Kelso →
Next door
Kelso and its neighbors
Kelso 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelso | 8% | 0.8 | 7 | 87% | B+ |
| Longview | 10% | 1.5 | 16 | 99% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Kelso
Where can I hike in Kelso?
The longest trail networks: Tam O'Shanter Park, 0.5 miles; Rotary Park, 0.1 miles; Catlin Rotary Spray Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Kelso is conserved land?
8% of its land, against a typical 4% for a Washington town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Kelso’s trails?
Tam O'Shanter Park and Rotary Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Kelso?
2.9 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.0 of painted or protected lanes and 1.8 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Kelso?
7,893 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Kelso or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 93 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Kelso have?
Ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #144 of 285 in Washington. 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 Kelso 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 →