1
Cedar Park
Park
88 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Outdoors · Palmer
Palmer, AK parks, trails & bike paths
About 3.8% of Palmer is conserved land, roughly 121 acres. There are about 6.7 miles of mapped trails.
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Palmer, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Palmer outdoors
Conserved land
3.8%
121 of 3,205 acres
Trails
6.7 mi
1.3 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
10
19 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
13.4 mi
5.1 mi lanes · 8.2 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Matanuska River Park
Park
57 acres
Dog rules not recorded
3
Historic Train Depot Park
Park
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
A-Moosement Park
Park
4 acres
No dogsMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 10 parks & preserves
Cedar Park88 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
Matanuska River Park57 acres
Historic Train Depot Park5 acres
A-Moosement Park4 acres
Historic Colonial Palmer Park2 acres
Gazebo Park2 acres
Botanical Garden, Palmer Visitor Center2 acres
McKechnie Park1 acres
Babb Arboretum1 acres
Wilson Park1 acres
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Playgrounds in Palmer
Showing 1–10 of 14 playgrounds
A-Moosement Park PlaygroundIn A-Moosement Park
Unnamed playground in McKechnie Park
Unnamed playground in Lions Club Park
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Trails
Named trails
Open to bikes 0.6 miUnpaved 4.5 mi
- Palmer Rail-Trail1.6 mi
- PHS Trails1.1 mi
- Matanuska River Trail0.3 mi
Who protects the land
121 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes5.1 mi
- Off-road bike paths8.2 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.1 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball9
- Tracks7
- Equestrian3
- Basketball3
- Soccer2
- Softball2
- Running tracks1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Palmer
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Recreation Area 94 acLocal Park 24 acLocal Historic or Cultural Area 1 ac
Showing 1–10 of 15 places
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matanuska River ParkLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 62 | Open |
| Sherrod Soccer \ Baseball ComplexLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 24 | Open |
| Babb ArboretumLocal Park | Town or city | 8 | Open |
| Busby / Soule Ball Fields & Herman Tennis CourtsLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 6 | Open |
| Alaskan Railroad Trail & Open SpaceLocal Park | Town or city | 5 | Open |
| A-Moose-Ment ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Cope Industrial Way Ball FieldsLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 3 | Open |
| Palmer Town Square (Colony Square)Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Palmer Downtown PavilionLocal Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Palmer Community Center / Historic Train DepotLocal Historic or Cultural Area | Town or city | 1 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Colony Inn CafeBuilding
Palmer Pioneer CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Palmer and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer | 3.8% | 6.7 mi | 10 |
| Farm Loop | 3.8% | 1.8 mi | 1 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Palmer's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.