1
Bald Hill Prairie Preserve
Nature preserve
378 acres4.3 mi of trail
Bald Hill LoopCemetery LoopBig Tree Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Rockvale
Rockvale, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 5.7% of Rockvale is conserved land, roughly 1,290 acres. There are about 20 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Bald Hill Prairie Preserve (4.3 mi) and Lowden State Park (2.4 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Rockvale, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Rockvale outdoors
Conserved land
5.7%
1,290 of 22,686 acres
Trails
20 mi
0.6 mi per sq mi · 11 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
2
782 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.0 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
Lowden State Park
Nature preserve
190 acres2.4 mi of trail
Black Hawk TrailPines TrailHeckman Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Campgrounds in Rockvale
Shady Rest camping areaIn Lowden State Park · Lowden State Park
Sun ValleyIn Lowden State Park · Lowden State Park
White OakIn Lowden State Park · Lowden State Park
Trails
Named trails
Horses 10.5 mi
- Black Hawk Trail1.5 mi
- Cemetery Loop1.5 mi
- Bald Hill Loop1.3 mi
- Pines Trail0.4 mi
- Big Tree Trail0.3 mi
- Heckman Trail0.3 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,290 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 221 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 1 of 10 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Rockvale
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Conservation Easement 699 acState Other or Unknown 478 acState Conservation Area 244 acState Park 192 acLocal Park 103 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nardi HillsState Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 478 | Access unknown |
| Lowden State ParkState Park | Other state land | 192 | Open |
| Commonwealth Edison PrairieState Conservation Area | Town or city | 146 | Open |
| By-comLocal Park | Joint | 103 | Open |
| Ripplinger - Gouker Prairie PreserveState Conservation Area | Regional agency | 51 | Closed |
| He-Lo Wetland PreserveLocal Conservation Area | Regional agency | 51 | Open |
| Etnyre PreserveState Conservation Area | Regional agency | 47 | Closed |
| Stronghold Hill Prairie Natural Heritage LandmarkPrivate Historic or Cultural | Private owners | 1 | Closed |
History
Historic places to visit
Camlin CemeteryCemetery
Ebenezer Reformed CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Rockvale and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockvale | 5.7% | 20.0 mi | 2 |
| Marion | 1.6% | 25.9 mi | 1 |
| Byron | 2.7% | 12.0 mi | 5 |
| Mount Morris | 0.3% | 1.0 mi | 3 |
| Oregon-Nashua | 18.7% | 39.0 mi | 12 |
| Pine Rock | 0.8% | 1.7 mi | 1 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Rockvale'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.