Blackjack Springs Wilderness
Managed by United States Forest Service
1,499 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Big Sand Lake Club · Photo: Sa magnuson33 · CC BY-SA 3.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Phelps
More than half of Phelps’ land is conserved: 63%
63% of Phelps’ land is conserved, about 37,830 acres. 47 acres are parks and preserves, 34 per 1,000 residents. 24% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
63%
37,830 acres · of 93.9 sq mi of land
Trails
20 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
47 ac
34 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
24%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
4.5 mi
4.5 mi paths
Highest peak
1,837 ft
Military Hill
Lakes & rivers
34
4 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Phelps?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Phelps have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Phelps is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Phelps’ overall grade.
Conserved land63% of the land · typical WI town 4% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (20 mi) · WI 0.4 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land34 acres of park per 1,000 residents (47 acres) · WI 31 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home24% 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 66%
LessMore
Water is 13% of Phelps’ area (15 of 108 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 55%.
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
37,830 conserved acres
63% of Phelps’ land. Water is left out: Phelps has 93.9 square miles of land and 14.5 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Phelps’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
U.S. Forest Service37,682 ac
State natural resources79 ac
Private owners70 ac
County1 ac
National Forest · 37,682 acState Recreation Area · 79 acPrivate Park · 70 acLocal Conservation Area · 1 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolet National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 37,670 | Open |
| Big Sand Golf Course Private Park | Private owners | 70 | Open |
| Lac Vieux Desert Public Access State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 67 | Restricted |
| Big Sand Lake Public Access State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 13 | Restricted |
| Ottawa National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 12 | Open |
| Vilas County Forest Local Conservation Area | County | 1 | Open |
Things to do
10 places to go in Phelps
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Phelps
4 boat launches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Peaks in Phelps
Military Hill1,837 ft elevation
DirectionsPlus 1 peak without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Picnic areas in Phelps
1 picnic area without a name on the map.
Campgrounds in Phelps
Kentuck Lake Recreation AreaFee · USFS
DirectionsLac Vieux Desert Recreation AreaFee
DirectionsSpectacle Lake Recreation Area CampgroundsFee
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail and 34 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 2.7 mi
Spectacle Lake - Kentuck Lake Trail2.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Afterglow LakelakeBaker LakelakeBig Sand LakereservoirCamp One LakelakeCamp Two LakelakeCatherine LakelakeDewey LakelakeEleanore LakeEllen LakelakeGoodall LakelakeImogene LakelakeKentuck LakelakeKildare LakelakeLac Vieux DesertreservoirLong LakereservoirManuel LakelakeMilitary CreekMuskeg LakelakeNoseeum LakelakePlymouth LakepondPotfish LakelakeReservoir LakeSecret LakeSouth Twin LakereservoirSpectacle LakelakeSugar Maple LakelakeVista LakelakeWarvet LakelakeWeber LakelakeWhispering LakeDeerskin RiverLillypad LaneLittle Deerskin RiverWisconsin River
Biking & sports
4.5 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
4.5 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
3Basketball
2Tennis
2Baseball
1Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 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 Phelps: May and August
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) | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 14.9 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 |
| High (°F) | 21 | 26 | 37 | 50 | 65 | 73 | 77 | 75 | 67 | 53 | 37 | 26 |
| Rain (in) | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 1.7 |
February is the driest month (1.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 77 °F). 4.1 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Phelps →
Next door
Phelps and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Watersmeet Township254 miStambaugh Township183 miHiles98 miAlvin83 miLand O'Lakes67 miConover36 miPhelps20 miWashington12 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phelps | 63% | 0.2 | 34 | 24% | B+ |
| Conover | 53% | 0.5 | 19,306 | 76% | A |
| Hiles | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Washington | 36% | 0.3 | 134 | 16% | B+ |
| Alvin | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Land O'Lakes | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Phelps
How much of Phelps is conserved land?
63% 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 Phelps’ trails?
Blackjack Springs Wilderness and Waverly Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Phelps?
4.5 miles of bike routes are on the map: 4.5 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Phelps?
268,111 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Phelps or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 36,436 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Phelps have?
Ahead of 66% 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 Phelps 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 →