Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom
Nature preserve
257 acres5.1 mi of trail
Towering Pines LoopAcorn HallowDeer RidgeRam Pike+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Pelican
Pelican has 210 acres of parks, 74 for every 1,000 residents
The biggest trail networks: Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom (5.1 mi). 35% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 13 miles of mapped trail cross Pelican, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 40% of U.S. towns · #306 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
43 acres · of 50.3 sq mi of land
Trails
13 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
210 ac
74 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
35%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
17
1 beach · 1 boat launch
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Pelican have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Pelican is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns, #306 of 362 in Wisconsin. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Pelican’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical WI town 4% · U.S. 4%C−Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (13 mi) · WI 0.4 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land74 acres of park per 1,000 residents (210 acres) · WI 31 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home35% of residents within a half mile of a park · WI 90% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 40%
LessMore
Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 16%
Water is 7% of Pelican’s area (4 of 54 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read under 1%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. 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 Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom, with 5.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Holmboe Conifer Forest State Natural Area
Nature preserve
31 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Oneida County Memorial Forest
Managed by Oneida County Forestry Department
10 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
43 conserved acres
under 1% of Pelican’s land. Water is left out: Pelican has 50.3 square miles of land and 3.6 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Pelican’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County35 ac
State natural resources14 ac
State Conservation Area · 41 acState Resource Management Area · 6 acState Recreation Area · 3 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holmboe Conifer Preserve State Conservation Area | County | 35 | Open |
| State Owned Islands State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 6 | Open |
| State Owned Islands - Nw State Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 6 | Open |
| Statewide Public Access State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 1 | Open |
| Statewide Public Access - Nw State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 1 | Open |
Things to do
4 places to go in Pelican
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Pelican
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Boat launches in Pelican
1 boat launch without a name on the map.
Campgrounds in Pelican
Holiday Acres
DirectionsCommunity gardens in Pelican
Northwoods Community Garden
DirectionsTrails & water
19 named trails and 17 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 5.0 mi
Towering Pines Loop0.7 mi
Ram Pike0.4 mi
Acorn Hallow0.4 mi
Deer Ridge0.3 mi
Glacial Crossover0.3 mi
Otter Slide0.3 mi
Spruce Hollow0.3 mi
Stony Drop0.3 mi
Trail Mix0.3 mi
Aspen Overlook0.2 mi
9 more trails
Upland
0.2 miButterfly Grove
0.2 miWolf Run
0.2 miWetland
0.2 miTrail Of Wonder
0.2 miB's Hollow
0.1 miHill Side
0.1 miBog Walk
0.1 miNorth
0.1 miBiking & 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
3Tennis
1Multi-sport
1Pickleball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
August is the best month for walking in Pelican
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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°F) | 21 | 27 | 38 | 52 | 65 | 74 | 78 | 76 | 68 | 54 | 38 | 26 |
| Rain (in) | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
February is the driest month (1.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 78 °F). 4.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Pelican →
Next door
Pelican and its neighbors
Pelican has the second most mapped trails of the 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelican | under 1% | 0.3 | 74 | 35% | C+ |
| Rhinelander | 4% | 0.1 | 32 | 86% | B |
| Stella | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Enterprise | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Crescent | 2% | 0.1 | 42 | 19% | C+ |
| Monico | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Pine Lake | under 1% | 0.5 | 5 | 19% | C− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Pelican
Where can I hike in Pelican?
The longest trail networks: Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom, 5.1 miles; Almon County Park, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Pelican 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 Pelican’s trails?
Cedric A. Vig Outdoor Classroom and Almon County Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Pelican?
74,960 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Pelican or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 210 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Pelican have?
Ahead of 40% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #306 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 Pelican 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 →