Capitol Valley Park
Park
12 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Dane
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Dane
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 26 acres are parks and preserves, 25 per 1,000 residents. 0.4 miles of mapped trail cross Dane, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 58% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 1.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.4 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
26 ac
25 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Dane?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Dane have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Dane is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Dane’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical WI town 4% · U.S. 4%DTrails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · WI 0.4 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land25 acres of park per 1,000 residents (26 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 58%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ 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 Capitol Valley Park, with 0.2 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Mienrod Karls Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
1 places to go in Dane
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Dane
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & 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
1Basketball
1Baseball
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 Dane
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 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 27 | 31 | 43 | 57 | 69 | 78 | 82 | 80 | 73 | 60 | 45 | 32 |
| Rain (in) | 1.4 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 1.6 |
January is the driest month (1.4 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 5.5 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Dane →
Questions about parks and trails in Dane
Where can I hike in Dane?
The longest trail networks: Capitol Valley Park, 0.2 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Dane is conserved land?
under 1% 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 Dane’s trails?
Capitol Valley Park and Lake Melvin Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Dane?
9,580 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Dane or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 26 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Dane have?
Ahead of 58% 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 Dane 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 →