Tug Fork Wildlife Management Area
Nature preserve
176 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Aaron F. Stone · CC BY-SA 4.0COutdoors
Outdoors in Welch
Welch has 6.6 miles of mapped trails, 0.9 for every square mile of land
13 acres are parks and preserves, 3.8 per 1,000 residents. 37% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 30% of U.S. towns · #45 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
11 acres · of 7.6 sq mi of land
Trails
6.6 mi
0.9 per sq mi of land
Park land
13 ac
3.8 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
37%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Welch?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Welch have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Welch is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns, #45 of 61 in West Virginia. Trail miles hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Welch’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical WV town 2% · U.S. 4%C−Trails0.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (7 mi) · WV 0.3 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land3.8 acres of park per 1,000 residents (13 acres) · WV 10 · U.S. 13CParks close to home37% of residents within a half mile of a park · WV 71% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 30%
LessMore
West Virginia towns of 2,500+ (61)Ahead of 27%
Few West Virginia towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Welch’s under 1% is ahead of 18% of West Virginia towns, while its trails per square mile lead 80% of 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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Linkous Park
Managed by Welch Parks and Recreation
2 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Martha H. Moore Riverfront Park
Park
1 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
11 conserved acres
under 1% of Welch’s land. Who manages Welch’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources6 ac
Town or city3 ac
County2 ac
Not recorded3 ac
Local Park · 7 acState Conservation Area · 6 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tug Fork Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State natural resources | 6 | Open |
| Linkous Park Local Park | Not recorded | 5 | Open |
| Unknown Park Local Park | County | 2 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Welch
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Welch
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
1 named trail and 1 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 2.5 mi
War-#11-Easy1.1 mi
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
4Pickleball
3Basketball
2Football
2Tennis
2Baseball
1Beach volleyball
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).
When to get out
The best walking months in Welch: April 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 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.1 | 9.6 |
| High (°F) | 43 | 48 | 56 | 68 | 75 | 82 | 84 | 83 | 78 | 68 | 57 | 46 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 3.5 |
November is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 5.0 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Welch →
Questions about parks and trails in Welch
Where can I hike in Welch?
The longest trail networks: Linkous Park, 0.2 miles; Martha H. Moore Riverfront Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Welch is conserved land?
under 1% 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 Welch’s trails?
Tug Fork Wildlife Management Area and Linkous Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Welch?
9,561 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Welch or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 13 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Welch have?
Ahead of 30% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #45 of 61 in West Virginia. 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 Welch 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 →