Phoebe Bakken Memorial Park
Park
38 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Cottage Grove
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Cottage Grove
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 190 acres are parks and preserves, 22 per 1,000 residents. 0.7 miles of mapped trail cross Cottage Grove, 0.1 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns · #179 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
97 acres · of 4.7 sq mi of land
Trails
0.7 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
190 ac
22 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
10 mi
3.4 mi lanes · 7.0 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Cottage Grove?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Cottage Grove have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Cottage Grove is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #179 of 362 in Wisconsin. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Cottage Grove’s overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical WI town 4% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · WI 0.4 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land22 acres of park per 1,000 residents (190 acres) · WI 31 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · WI 90% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 70%
LessMore
Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 51%
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 Phoebe Bakken Memorial Park, with 0.2 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Northlawn Park
Park
14 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 9 parks & preserves
Phoebe Bakken Memorial Park38 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
DirectionsMcCarthy Youth & Conservation County Park1 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Dane County Parks
Northlawn Park14 acres
Fireman's Park14 acres
DirectionsGovernor Taylor Nature Park11 acres
DirectionsCommunity Park9 acres
DirectionsR. G. Huston Memorial Park6 acres
Willow Run Park6 acres
Dublin Park1 acres
Who protects it
97 conserved acres
3% of Cottage Grove’s land. Who manages Cottage Grove’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city89 ac
State natural resources8 ac
Local Park · 89 acRecreation or Education Easement · 4 acState Park · 3 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 4 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bakken Park Local Park | Town or city | 46 | Open |
| North Lawn Park Local Park | Town or city | 15 | Open |
| Community Park Local Park | Town or city | 12 | Open |
| Village Run Park Local Park | Town or city | 6 | Open |
| Governor Taylor Nature Park Local Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| Glacial Drumlin State Trail State Park | State natural resources | 3 | Open |
| Huston Memorial Park Local Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Dublin Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
| Strouse Park Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
8 places to go in Cottage Grove
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Cottage Grove
7 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Picnic areas in Cottage Grove
1 picnic area without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Biking & sports
10 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
3.4 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
7.0 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
8Pickleball
6Tennis
5Basketball
4Soccer
2Baseball
1Skate park
1Volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
September is the best month for walking in Cottage Grove
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) | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 27 | 32 | 44 | 57 | 69 | 79 | 82 | 80 | 74 | 60 | 45 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 1.4 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 1.6 |
January is the driest month (1.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 5.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Cottage Grove →
Next door
Cottage Grove and its neighbors
Cottage Grove 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage Grove | 3% | 0.1 | 22 | 99%+ | B+ |
| Sun Prairie | 1% | 0.3 | 148 | 28% | B− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Cottage Grove
Where can I hike in Cottage Grove?
The longest trail networks: Phoebe Bakken Memorial Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Cottage Grove is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 4% for a Wisconsin town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Cottage Grove’s trails?
Phoebe Bakken Memorial Park and Northlawn Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Cottage Grove?
10 miles of bike routes are on the map: 3.4 of painted or protected lanes and 7.0 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Cottage Grove?
16,722 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Cottage Grove or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 190 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Cottage Grove have?
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #179 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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 Cottage Grove 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 →