1
Gillson Park
Managed by Wilmette Park District
54 acres1.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Wilmette
Wilmette, IL parks, trails & bike paths
About 11% of Wilmette is conserved land, roughly 382 acres. There are about 9.2 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Gillson Park (1.3 mi), Mallinckrodt Park (0.9 mi), and Community Park (0.8 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Wilmette, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Wilmette outdoors
Conserved land
11%
382 of 3,441 acres
Trails
9.2 mi
1.7 mi per sq mi · 6 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
19
14 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
4.4 mi
1.7 mi lanes · 2.1 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
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
Mallinckrodt Park
Managed by Wilmette Park District
10 acres0.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Community Park
Managed by Wilmette Park District
34 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
4
Watersmeet Woods
Managed by Forest Preserve District of Cook County
32 acres0.7 mi of trail
North Branch Yellow Unpaved Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the trailhead
5
Stephen R. Keay Nature Learning Center
Managed by Wilmette Park District
5 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
All 19 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 19 parks & preserves
Gillson Park54 acres · 1.3 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Mallinckrodt Park10 acres · 0.9 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Community Park34 acres · 0.8 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Watersmeet Woods32 acres · 0.7 mi of trail · Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Stephen R. Keay Nature Learning Center5 acres · 0.4 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Hibbard Park14 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Howard Park10 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Vattman Park3 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
West Park7 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Maple Park2 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Wilmette Park District
Who protects the land
382 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes1.7 mi
- Off-road bike paths2.1 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.7 mi
- North Branch Yellow Unpaved Trail (bike route)0.7 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis51
- Baseball13
- Basketball5
- Soccer2
- Football1
- Skate park1
- Multi-sport1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Wilmette and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Wilmette'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.