North Willapa Bay Wildlife Area
Managed by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
118 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Photo: Steven Pavlov · CC BY-SA 3.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in South Bend
12% of South Bend’s land is conserved: 127 acres
94% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 17 acres are parks and preserves, 9.0 per 1,000 residents. 0.6 miles of mapped trail cross South Bend, 0.4 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
12%
127 acres · of 1.6 sq mi of land
Trails
0.6 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
17 ac
9.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
94%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.2 mi
0.5 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is South Bend?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does South Bend have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, South Bend is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of South Bend’s overall grade.
Conserved land12% of the land · typical WA town 4% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · WA 0.8 · U.S. 0.4BPark land9.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (17 acres) · WA 11 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home94% of residents within a half mile of a park · WA 92% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 73%
LessMore
Water is 18% of South Bend’s area (0 of 2 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 10%.
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Willapa Hills State Park Trail
Park
9 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
First Street Park
Park
5 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
127 conserved acres
12% of South Bend’s land. Water is left out: South Bend has 1.6 square miles of land and 0.4 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages South Bend’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State fish & wildlife113 ac
State parks9 ac
Town or city3 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)2 ac
County2 ac
State Conservation Area · 113 acState Recreation Area · 9 acLocal Park · 5 acConservation Easement · 2 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 | 113 | Restricted |
| Willapa Hills Trail State Recreation Area | State parks | 9 | Open |
| First Street Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| South Bend Water Garden & Pond Local Park | County | 2 | Open |
Things to do
3 places to go in South Bend
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in South Bend
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Boat launches in South Bend
South Bend Boat LaunchIn North Willapa Bay Wildlife Area
DirectionsCommunity gardens in South Bend
1 community garden without a name on the map.
Biking & sports
2.2 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.5 mi
off-road bike paths
1.6 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
2Tennis
1Baseball
1Soccer
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →4 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 South Bend: May 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 | 8.6 |
| High (°F) | 49 | 51 | 54 | 57 | 62 | 65 | 69 | 70 | 68 | 61 | 53 | 48 |
| Rain (in) | 12.3 | 7.8 | 8.9 | 6.2 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 7.6 | 12.2 | 11.7 |
July is the driest month (0.9 in) and August the warmest (highs of 70 °F). 12.3 inches fall in January, the wettest month. The climate in South Bend →
Next door
South Bend and its neighbors
South Bend 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Bend | 12% | 0.4 | 9 | 94% | B+ |
| Raymond | 3% | 0.6 | 28 | 99% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in South Bend
Where can I hike in South Bend?
The longest trail networks: Willapa Hills State Park Trail, 0.1 miles; First Street Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of South Bend is conserved land?
12% 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 South Bend’s trails?
North Willapa Bay Wildlife Area and Willapa Hills State Park Trail don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in South Bend?
2.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.5 of off-road paths and 1.6 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near South Bend?
20,772 acres of parks and open public land lie inside South Bend or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 17 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does South Bend have?
Ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. 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 South Bend 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 →