1
Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park
Managed by Illinois Department of Natural Resources
1,043 acres6.6 mi of trail
Dune TrailBeach TrailDead River TrailOak Ridge Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Benton
Benton, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 29% of Benton is conserved land, roughly 2,668 acres. There are about 22 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park (6.6 mi), North Point Marina (5.7 mi), and Founders Park (0.6 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Benton, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Benton outdoors
Conserved land
29%
2,668 of 9,240 acres
Trails
22 mi
1.5 mi per sq mi · 20 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
9
141 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
6.1 mi
0.8 mi lanes · 5.2 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
North Point Marina
Managed by Illinois Department of Natural Resources
432 acres5.7 mi of trail
Marsh Trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Founders Park
Park
15 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Spring Bluff Forest Preserve
Managed by Lake County Forest Preserves
232 acres
Dog rules not recorded
All 9 parks & preserves
Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park1,043 acres · 6.6 mi of trail · Illinois Department of Natural Resources
North Point Marina432 acres · 5.7 mi of trail · Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Founders Park15 acres · 0.6 mi of trail
Novotny Park3 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Spring Bluff Forest Preserve232 acres · Lake County Forest Preserves
Village Park38 acres
Fossland Park7 acres
Beach Park7 acres
Graham Park1 acres · Waukegan Park District
Who protects the land
2,668 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 1 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 lanes0.8 mi
- Off-road bike paths5.2 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball9
- Tennis4
- Basketball3
- Skate park1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Benton and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benton | 28.9% | 21.5 mi | 9 |
| Zion | 17.1% | 10.7 mi | 20 |
| Zion | 17.1% | 10.7 mi | 20 |
| Beach Park | 6.4% | 7.5 mi | 4 |
| Winthrop Harbor | 29.7% | 5.5 mi | 5 |
| Wadsworth | 10.8% | 3.8 mi | 5 |
| Newport | 19.7% | 4.9 mi | 7 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Benton'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.