1
Appleton Area Recreational Park
Managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
343 acres18.5 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Appleton
Appleton, MN parks, trails & bike paths
About 7.5% of Appleton is conserved land, roughly 1,533 acres. There are about 24 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Appleton Area Recreational Park (18.5 mi) and Lac Qui Parle Wildlife Management Area Main Unit (2.7 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Appleton, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Appleton outdoors
Conserved land
7.5%
1,533 of 20,358 acres
Trails
24 mi
0.7 mi per sq mi · 1 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
2
named on the map
Bike routes
13.8 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 2.2 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
Lac Qui Parle Wildlife Management Area Main Unit
Managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
4,808 acres2.7 mi of trail
Old 100th Street Southwest220th Avenue Southwest
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Trails
Named trails
Unpaved 3.5 mi
- Old 100th Street Southwest1.1 mi
- 210th Avenue Southwest1.0 mi
- 70th Street Southwest0.5 mi
- 220th Avenue Southwest0.3 mi
- 260th Avenue Southwest0.2 mi
- Chippewa-Swift Street Northwest0.1 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,533 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 845 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 4 of 16 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 paths2.2 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes11.7 mi
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Appleton
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Conservation Easement 845 acPrivate Conservation 517 acResource Management Area 343 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swift County Waterfowl Production AreaResource Management Area | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 343 | Restricted |
| Chippewa Prairie FeePrivate Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 279 | Access unknown |
| Upper Minnesota River Valley FeePrivate Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 238 | Access unknown |
Nearby
Appleton and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Appleton'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.