New River Gorge National Preserve
Managed by National Park Service
274 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dogs usually limited
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Summers County Courthouse · Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 3.0 usBOutdoors
Outdoors in Hinton
29% of Hinton’s land is conserved: 412 acres
6 acres are parks and preserves, 3.1 per 1,000 residents. 0.7 miles of mapped trail cross Hinton, 0.3 per square mile of land. 60% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
29%
412 acres · of 2.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.7 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
6 ac
3.1 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
60%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
2
1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Hinton?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Hinton have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hinton is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Hinton’s overall grade.
Conserved land29% of the land · typical WV town 2% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · WV 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land3.1 acres of park per 1,000 residents (6 acres) · WV 10 · U.S. 13C−Parks close to home60% of residents within a half mile of a park · WV 71% · U.S. 72%B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 56%
LessMore
Few West Virginia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Hinton’s 29% is ahead of 98% of West Virginia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 51% of them.
Water is 26% of Hinton’s area (1 of 3 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 21%.
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 New River Gorge National Preserve, with 0.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
Managed by National Park Service
274 acres
Dogs usually limited
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Bluestone Lake Wildlife Management Area
Nature preserve
25 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Bellepoint Park
Managed by Bellepoint Parks and Recreation
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
412 conserved acres
29% of Hinton’s land. Water is left out: Hinton has 2.2 square miles of land and 0.8 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Hinton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Private owners274 ac
Army Corps of Engineers137 ac
Joint49 ac
Town or city1 ac
Not recorded7 ac
Private Conservation · 274 acRecreation Management Area · 137 acState Conservation Area · 43 acLocal Park · 7 acState Park · 6 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private Land Owner 1 Private Conservation | Private owners | 274 | Closed |
| Bluestone Recreation Area Recreation Management Area | Army Corps of Engineers | 137 | Open |
| Bluestone Lake Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | Joint | 43 | Open |
| Bluestone State Park State Park | Joint | 6 | Open |
| Bellepoint Park Local Park | Not recorded | 6 | Open |
| Hinton Pool and Waterslide Local Park | Not recorded | 2 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Hinton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Hinton
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Boat launches in Hinton
1 boat launch without a name on the map.
Trails & water
2 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
2Baseball
1Basketball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →4 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 Hinton: April, June 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) | 9.8 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.1 | 9.6 |
| High (°F) | 43 | 48 | 56 | 68 | 76 | 82 | 85 | 84 | 78 | 68 | 57 | 46 |
| Rain (in) | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.2 |
October is the driest month (2.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.5 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Hinton →
Questions about parks and trails in Hinton
Where can I hike in Hinton?
The longest trail networks: New River Gorge National Preserve, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Hinton is conserved land?
29% of its land, against a typical 2% for a West Virginia town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Hinton’s trails?
New River Gorge National Preserve and New River Gorge National Park and Preserve don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Hinton?
37,555 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hinton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 139 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Hinton have?
Ahead of 56% 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 Hinton 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 →