1
William R Bradley Park
Park
33 acres1.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · San Marcos
San Marcos, CA parks, trails & bike paths
About 15% of San Marcos is conserved land, roughly 2,343 acres. There are about 64 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in William R Bradley Park (1.5 mi), Sunset Park (1.2 mi), and San Elijo Hills Park (0.8 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in San Marcos, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
San Marcos outdoors
Conserved land
15%
2,343 of 15,668 acres
Trails
64 mi
2.6 mi per sq mi · 26 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
27
25 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
102.0 mi
71.6 mi lanes · 28.6 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
Sunset Park
Park
17 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
San Elijo Hills Park
Park
21 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Montiel Dog Park
Park
8 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
5
Mulberry Park
Park
4 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 27 parks & preserves
- Knob Hill Park3 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Double Peak Park2 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Hollandia Park19 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Woodland Park13 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Questhaven Park2 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Quail Valley Park1 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Foothills Park1 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Las Abejas Park1 ac · 0.1 mi trail · Directions
- Discovery Community Park1 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Walnut Grove Park39 ac · Directions
- Jacks Pond Park23 ac · Directions
- Cerro de Las Posas Park11 ac · Directions
- Connors Park5 ac · Directions
- Simmons Family Park4 ac · Directions
- Richmar Park2 ac · Directions
- Helen Bougher Memorial Park2 ac · Directions
- Valley View Park1 ac
- San Marcos Sand Court1 ac · Directions
- Innovation Park1 ac · Directions
- Discovery Creek Childrens Park1 ac
- Creek View Park1 ac
- Fallsview Park1 ac
Who protects the land
2,343 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 1,125 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes71.6 mi
- Off-road bike paths28.6 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes1.7 mi
Courts & fields
- Basketball75
- Tennis46
- Baseball26
- Soccer13
- Tracks7
- Volleyball7
- Football4
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
San Marcos and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Marcos | 15% | 64.0 mi | 27 |
| Escondido | 25.5% | 52.9 mi | 16 |
| Carlsbad | 29.7% | 135.7 mi | 32 |
| Vista | 7.2% | 25.2 mi | 12 |
| Lake San Marcos | 8% | 7.1 mi | 0 |
| Harmony Grove | 30.5% | 11.5 mi | 2 |
| Elfin Forest | 18.5% | 11.5 mi | 0 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about San Marcos'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 23.1-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.