1
Carpenter Park
Managed by Springfield Park District
336 acres6.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Capital
Capital, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 5.6% of Capital is conserved land, roughly 2,350 acres. There are about 46 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Carpenter Park (6.9 mi), Lincoln Memorial Garden and Trails (4.2 mi), and Gurgens Park (3.5 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Capital, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Capital outdoors
Conserved land
5.6%
2,350 of 41,913 acres
Trails
46 mi
0.7 mi per sq mi · 26 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
54
21 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
38.0 mi
14.9 mi lanes · 20.6 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
Lincoln Memorial Garden and Trails
Park
106 acres4.2 mi of trail
Lake TrailBird Cherry TrailWalnut TrailBuckeye Trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Gurgens Park
Managed by Springfield Park District
410 acres3.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
4
Centennial Park
Managed by Springfield Park District
195 acres2.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
5
Rotary Park
Managed by Springfield Park District
40 acres0.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
6
Jaycee Park
Managed by Springfield Park District
18 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
7
Southwind Park
Managed by Springfield Park District
80 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
8
Duncan Park
Managed by Springfield Park District
26 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
All 54 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 54 parks & preserves
Carpenter Park336 acres · 6.9 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Lincoln Memorial Garden and Trails106 acres · 4.2 mi of trail
Gurgens Park410 acres · 3.5 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Centennial Park195 acres · 2.2 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Rotary Park40 acres · 0.9 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Jaycee Park18 acres · 0.5 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Southwind Park80 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Duncan Park26 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Lake Victoria Park8 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Old State Capitol Plaza3 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Who protects the land
2,350 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 112 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 lanes14.9 mi
- Off-road bike paths20.6 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes2.5 mi
Courts & fields
- Soccer92
- Baseball85
- Basketball60
- Tennis54
- Pickleball18
- Football8
- Tracks4
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Capital and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital | 5.6% | 46.1 mi | 54 |
| Springfield | 5.5% | 46.5 mi | 54 |
| Springfield | 3.5% | 3.1 mi | 7 |
| Ball | 0.2% | 0.4 mi | 6 |
| Gardner | 3.8% | 0.2 mi | 1 |
| Woodside | 0.9% | 2.1 mi | 6 |
| Rochester | 5.3% | 1.1 mi | 3 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Capital'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 41.3-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.