Sylvan Hill Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0DOutdoors
Outdoors in Wausau
Few parks or trails are on the map in Wausau
12% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 5 acres are parks and preserves, 2.0 per 1,000 residents. 1.9 miles of mapped trail cross Wausau, 0.1 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 7% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
2 acres · of 32.3 sq mi of land
Trails
1.9 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
5 ac
2.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
12%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.1 mi
0.1 mi lanes
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Wausau have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Wausau is ahead of 7% of U.S. towns. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; trail miles come closest.
D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Wausau’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical WI town 4% · U.S. 4%DTrails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (2 mi) · WI 0.4 · U.S. 0.4C−Park land2.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (5 acres) · WI 31 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home12% 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 7%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Wausau. 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 still be D. 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
2 conserved acres
under 1% of Wausau’s land. Who manages Wausau’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city2 ac
Local Park · 2 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sylvan Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
Biking & sports
0.1 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.1 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
Courts & fields
1Beach volleyball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The walking year in Wausau
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 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 22 | 27 | 39 | 53 | 66 | 76 | 80 | 77 | 69 | 55 | 40 | 27 |
| Rain (in) | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
February is the driest month (1.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.7 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Wausau →
Next door
Wausau and its neighbors
Wausau has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Wausau
How much of Wausau 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 Wausau’s trails?
Sylvan Hill Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Wausau?
0.1 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.1 of painted or protected lanes.
Is there public land near Wausau?
31,924 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Wausau or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 5 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Wausau have?
Ahead of 7% 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 Wausau 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 →