1
Reading Town Forest
Nature preserve
303 acres6.8 mi of trail
(Ridge)Gas Pipeline
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Reading
Reading, MA parks, trails & bike paths
About 17% of Reading is conserved land, roughly 1,099 acres. There are about 18 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Reading Town Forest (6.8 mi), Bare Meadow Conservation Area (2.3 mi), and Kurchian Woods (2.1 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Reading, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Reading outdoors
Conserved land
17%
1,099 of 6,354 acres
Trails
18 mi
1.9 mi per sq mi · 15 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
36
43 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
1.9 mi
1.9 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
Bare Meadow Conservation Area
Nature preserve
110 acres2.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Kurchian Woods
Nature preserve
43 acres2.1 mi of trail
WhitePipeline
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Pinevale
Nature preserve
17 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
5
Maillet Conservation Area
Nature preserve
19 acres0.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Birch Meadow Park
Park
24 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Marion Woods
Nature preserve
8 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Memorial Park
Park
12 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 36 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 36 parks & preserves
Reading Town Forest303 acres · 6.8 mi of trail
Bare Meadow Conservation Area110 acres · 2.3 mi of trail
Kurchian Woods43 acres · 2.1 mi of trail
Pinevale17 acres · 0.8 mi of trail
Maillet Conservation Area19 acres · 0.5 mi of trail
Birch Meadow Park24 acres · 0.4 mi of trail
Marion Woods8 acres · 0.4 mi of trail
Memorial Park12 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Higgins Property9 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Nichols Wood Lot4 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
Who protects the land
1,099 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 68 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 9 of 124 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes1.9 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis22
- Baseball18
- Pickleball8
- Basketball5
- Soccer5
- Football3
- Lacrosse1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Reading and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 17.3% | 18.4 mi | 36 |
| North Reading | 10.4% | 25.6 mi | 31 |
| Wakefield | 11.8% | 11.1 mi | 20 |
| Woburn | 10.8% | 23.9 mi | 25 |
| Lynnfield | 26.6% | 18.7 mi | 24 |
| Wilmington | 11.5% | 17.0 mi | 23 |
| Stoneham | 30.5% | 39.1 mi | 11 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Reading'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.