1
Rotary Park
Park
20 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · DeKalb
DeKalb, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 6.9% of DeKalb is conserved land, roughly 789 acres. There are about 7.6 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Rotary Park (0.7 mi), Mason Park (0.7 mi), and North 40 (0.5 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in DeKalb, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
DeKalb outdoors
Conserved land
6.9%
789 of 11,446 acres
Trails
7.6 mi
0.4 mi per sq mi · 5 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
33
20 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
20.4 mi
6.2 mi lanes · 14.3 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
Mason Park
Park
12 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
North 40
Park
69 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Welsh Park
Park
8 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
5
Wright Farm Park
Managed by City of DeKalb Park District
5 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 33 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 33 parks & preserves
Rotary Park20 acres · 0.7 mi of trail
Mason Park12 acres · 0.7 mi of trail
North 4069 acres · 0.5 mi of trail
Welsh Park8 acres · 0.5 mi of trail
Wright Farm Park5 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · City of DeKalb Park District
Katz Park13 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
League of Women Voters Park5 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
John Boardman Park4 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
Prairie Park107 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Hopkins Park60 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 DeKalb
Showing 1–10 of 14 playgrounds
Hopkins PlaygroundIn Hopkins Park
Pappas ParkIn Pappas Park
Unnamed playground in Wright Farm Park
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground in Wright Farm Park
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground
Unnamed playground in Mason Park
Unnamed playground in Mason Park
Unnamed playground in Welsh Park
Water
Lakes & rivers
Buena Vista Golf Course PondpondEast LagoonreservoirKishwaukee Country Club PondpondLarson LakelakeLorusso LagoonKishwaukee River South Branch
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
789 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes6.2 mi
- Off-road bike paths14.3 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
- DeKalb Sycamore Bicycle Network (bike route)2.3 mi
- NIU Bicycle Network (bike route)0.6 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis37
- Baseball22
- Soccer13
- Basketball12
- Football2
- Beach volleyball2
- Softball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in DeKalb
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Park 476 acLocal Recreation Area 192 acUnknown 119 ac
Showing 1–10 of 15 places
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| River Heights Golf CourseLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 127 | Open |
| Prairie ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 103 | Open |
| North 40Local Park | Other state land | 66 | Open |
| Buena Vista Golf CourseUnknown | Town or city | 64 | Open |
| Hopkins ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 61 | Open |
| Sports & Recreation CenterLocal Recreation Area | Regional agency | 44 | Open |
| Rotary ParkLocal Park | Regional agency | 32 | Open |
| Eco ParkLocal Park | Other state land | 23 | Open |
| DeKalb-Sycamore Bike PathLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 21 | Open |
| Unnamed PropertyUnknown | Town or city | 19 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Ellwood HouseIn Ellwood · Building
February 14th, 2008 Shooting MemorialMemorial
JF Glidden HomesteadBuilding
Oderkirk HouseBuilding
DeKalb County CemeteryCemetery
Evergreen CemeteryCemetery
Oaklawn CemeteryCemetery
Pleasant Street CemeteryCemetery
Saint Marys Catholic DeKalb CemeteryCemetery
Whitmore CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
DeKalb and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about DeKalb'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.