1
Walter S. Lovelace Park
Managed by Evanston Parks & Recreation
17 acres1.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Evanston
Evanston, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 5.8% of Evanston is conserved land, roughly 290 acres. There are about 12 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Walter S. Lovelace Park (1.1 mi), Robert E. James Park (0.8 mi), and Crown Park (0.6 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Evanston, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Evanston outdoors
Conserved land
5.8%
290 of 4,965 acres
Trails
12 mi
1.5 mi per sq mi · 8 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
64
4 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
15.8 mi
7.2 mi lanes · 7.6 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
Robert E. James Park
Managed by Evanston Parks & Recreation
38 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Crown Park
Managed by Evanston Parks & Recreation
18 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Dawes Park
Managed by Evanston Parks & Recreation
15 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Ladd Arboretum
Managed by Evanston Parks & Recreation
30 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Centennial Park
Managed by Wilmette Park District
12 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
7
William H. Twiggs Park
Managed by Evanston Parks & Recreation
12 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Perkins Woods Forest Preserve
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
8 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
All 64 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 64 parks & preserves
Walter S. Lovelace Park17 acres · 1.1 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Robert E. James Park38 acres · 0.8 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Crown Park18 acres · 0.6 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Dawes Park15 acres · 0.6 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Ladd Arboretum30 acres · 0.5 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Centennial Park12 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
William H. Twiggs Park12 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Perkins Woods Forest Preserve8 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Mason Park6 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Clark Square Park5 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · Evanston Parks & Recreation
Who protects the land
290 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes7.2 mi
- Off-road bike paths7.6 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.9 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis58
- Basketball32
- Baseball16
- Soccer10
- Pickleball5
- Football3
- Softball3
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Evanston and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Evanston'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.