1
Franconia Sculpture Gardens
Park
42 acres5.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Franconia
Franconia, MN parks, trails & bike paths
About 9% of Franconia is conserved land, roughly 1,832 acres. There are about 8.8 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Franconia Sculpture Gardens (5.1 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Franconia, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Franconia outdoors
Conserved land
9%
1,832 of 20,309 acres
Trails
8.8 mi
0.3 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
4
1,008 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.3 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.3 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
Franconia Bluffs Scientific and Natural Area
Managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
86 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Lawrence Creek Scientific and Natural Area
Managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
72 acres0.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Osceola Landing
Park
19 acres0.2 mi of 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.
Boat launches in Franconia
Osceola Boat Launch
Unnamed boat launch in Osceola Landing
Unnamed boat launch
Water
Lakes & rivers
Showing 1–10 of 12 places
Bloom LakeColeen LakeDuck LakeHawkinson LakeIce LakeJohnson LakeOgren LakePearson LakePeterson LakeSwamp Lake
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,832 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 526 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 lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.3 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Basketball1
- Tennis1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Franconia
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Wild and Scenic River 1,219 acConservation Easement 1,013 acState Conservation Area 87 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Saint Croix National Scenic RiverwayWild and Scenic River | National Park Service | 1,219 | Open |
| Franconia Bluffs State Scientific and Natural AreaState Conservation Area | State natural resources | 87 | Restricted |
Nearby
Franconia and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franconia | 9% | 8.8 mi | 4 |
| Osceola | 8.4% | 8.1 mi | 6 |
| Chisago Lake | 0.5% | 2.9 mi | 6 |
| Osceola | 6.5% | 2.8 mi | 10 |
| Shafer | 9.7% | 0.0 mi | 5 |
| Farmington | 8.7% | 6.7 mi | 8 |
| Lindstrom | 3.6% | 3.4 mi | 7 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Franconia'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 20.6-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.