Scatter Creek Wildlife Area
Managed by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
11 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Jonas and Maria Lovisa Erickson Farmstead · Photo: Dog Walking Girl · CC BY-SA 3.0DOutdoors
Outdoors in Rochester
Few parks or trails are on the map in Rochester
5 acres are parks and preserves, 0.8 per 1,000 residents. 0.3 miles of mapped trail cross Rochester. 22% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 8% of U.S. towns · #281 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
11 acres · of 8.5 sq mi of land
Trails
0.3 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
5 ac
0.8 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
22%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
240 ft
Grand Mound Peak
What kind of outdoors town is Rochester?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Rochester have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Rochester is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns, #281 of 285 in Washington. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; the share of residents near a park comes closest.
D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Rochester’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical WA town 4% · U.S. 4%C−Trails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · WA 0.8 · U.S. 0.4C−Park land0.8 acres of park per 1,000 residents (5 acres) · WA 11 · U.S. 13DParks close to home22% of residents within a half mile of a park · WA 92% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 8%
LessMore
Washington towns of 2,500+ (285)#281 of 285
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Rochester. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would still be D. 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
11 conserved acres
under 1% of Rochester’s land. Who manages Rochester’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State fish & wildlife20 ac
State Conservation Area · 20 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic-Willapa Hills-South Puget Sound Wildlife Area Complex State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 10 | Restricted |
| Scatter Creek State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 10 | Open |
Things to do
5 places to go in Rochester
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Rochester
4 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Peaks in Rochester
Grand Mound Peak240 ft elevation
DirectionsBiking & 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
3Baseball
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →5 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Rochester: 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) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.5 |
| High (°F) | 47 | 50 | 55 | 60 | 67 | 72 | 78 | 79 | 73 | 61 | 51 | 46 |
| Rain (in) | 7.4 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 4.7 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
July is the driest month (0.6 in) and August the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 8.0 inches fall in November, the wettest month. The climate in Rochester →
Questions about parks and trails in Rochester
How much of Rochester is conserved land?
under 1% 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 Rochester’s trails?
Scatter Creek Wildlife Area and Independence Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Rochester?
80,109 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Rochester or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 5 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Rochester have?
Ahead of 8% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #281 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 Rochester 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 →