Outdoors · Springfield

Springfield, IL parks, trails & bike paths

About 5.5% of Springfield is conserved land, roughly 2,352 acres. There are about 47 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Carpenter Park (7 mi), Lincoln Memorial Garden and Trails (4.2 mi), and Gurgens Park (3.6 mi).

Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Springfield, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.

At a glance

Springfield outdoors

Conserved land
5.5%
2,352 of 43,083 acres
Trails
47 mi
0.7 mi per sq mi · 26 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
54
21 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
39.2 mi
15.7 mi lanes · 21.1 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

12345678
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.
1

Carpenter Park

Managed by Springfield Park District
337 acres7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot Website
2

Lincoln Memorial Garden and Trails

Park
106 acres4.2 mi of trail
Lake TrailBird Cherry TrailWalnut TrailBuckeye Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot Website
3

Gurgens Park

Managed by Springfield Park District
411 acres3.6 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
DirectionsTo Sangamon Valley Trail Parking Website
5

Rotary Park

Managed by Springfield Park District
40 acres0.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot Website
6

Jaycee Park

Managed by Springfield Park District
18 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot Website
7

Southwind Park

Managed by Springfield Park District
80 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dogs on leashMapped in OpenStreetMap
DirectionsTo the parking lot Website
8

Duncan Park

Managed by Springfield Park District
26 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot Website
All 54 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 54 parks & preserves
Carpenter Park337 acres · 7 mi of trail · Springfield Park District
Lincoln Memorial Garden and Trails106 acres · 4.2 mi of trail
Gurgens Park411 acres · 3.6 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

2,352 conserved acres

Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city
2,154 ac
State conservation
428 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits
44 ac
Other state land
22 ac
National Park Service
14 ac
State natural resources
12 ac

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 lanes15.7 mi
  • Off-road bike paths21.1 mi
  • Shoulders & shared lanes2.5 mi

Courts & fields

  • Soccer92
  • Baseball87
  • Basketball61
  • Tennis54
  • Pickleball18
  • Football8
  • Volleyball4

Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.

Nearby

Springfield and its neighbors

Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
TownConservedTrailsParks & preserves
Springfield5.5%46.5 mi54
Capital5.6%46.1 mi54
Springfield3.5%3.1 mi7
Ball0.2%0.4 mi6
Gardner3.8%0.2 mi1
Rochester5.3%1.1 mi3
Clear Lake5.1%1.4 mi6
Trail talk

Conditions & tips from neighbors

No recent posts about Springfield'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.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01