Turtle Valley Wildlife Area
Nature preserve
1,200 acres5.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Wandawega Inn · Photo: Sa magnuson33 · CC BY-SA 3.0C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Sugar Creek
7% of Sugar Creek’s land is conserved: 1,364 acres
The biggest trail networks: Turtle Valley Wildlife Area (5.8 mi). 9.0 miles of mapped trail cross Sugar Creek, 0.3 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 22% of U.S. towns · #347 of 362 in Wisconsin. What drives it
Conserved land
7%
1,364 acres · of 33.0 sq mi of land
Trails
9.0 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
3
1 boat launch
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Sugar Creek have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Sugar Creek is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #347 of 362 in Wisconsin. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Sugar Creek’s overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical WI town 4% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (9 mi) · WI 0.4 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land0.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (0 acres) · WI 31 · U.S. 13DParks close to home0% of residents within a half mile of a park · WI 90% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 22%
LessMore
Wisconsin towns of 2,500+ (362)Ahead of 4%
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Sugar Creek. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. 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 Turtle Valley Wildlife Area, with 5.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
1,364 conserved acres
7% of Sugar Creek’s land. Who manages Sugar Creek’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources2,407 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)1,275 ac
Bureau of Land Management4 ac
Town or city3 ac
Conservation Easement · 1,275 acState Recreation Area · 1,244 acUnknown Easement · 1,165 acNational Public Lands · 4 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 116 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 7 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turtle Valley Wildlife Area State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 1,244 | Restricted |
| Northeastern States District Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 4 | Open |
Things to do
1 places to go in Sugar Creek
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Sugar Creek
1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
3 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
2Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
Wandawega InnBuilding · listed 2015
About itWhen to get out
The best walking months in Sugar Creek: July and 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) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.0 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 28 | 32 | 44 | 57 | 69 | 79 | 83 | 80 | 74 | 61 | 46 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 1.7 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 2.0 |
February is the driest month (1.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 5.1 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Sugar Creek →
Next door
Sugar Creek and its neighbors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar Creek | 7% | 0.3 | under 1 | under 1% | C− |
| Elkhorn | 2% | 0.4 | 14 | 87% | B |
| Richmond | 3% | 0.2 | 71 | 24% | B− |
| La Grange | under 1% | 1.9 | under 1 | under 1% | C− |
| Lafayette | 1% | 0.3 | 65 | 1% | C+ |
| Delavan | under 1% | under 0.1 | 4 | 34% | D |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Sugar Creek
Where can I hike in Sugar Creek?
The longest trail networks: Turtle Valley Wildlife Area, 5.8 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Sugar Creek is conserved land?
7% 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 Sugar Creek’s trails?
Turtle Valley Wildlife Area doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Sugar Creek?
22,450 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Sugar Creek or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 4 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Sugar Creek have?
Ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #347 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 Sugar Creek 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 →