1
Quarry Hill Park
Park
248 acres7.4 mi of trail
Quarry Ruins TrailWoodland TrailSavanna TrailWinter Sports TrailPond/Prairie Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Rochester
Rochester, MN parks, trails & bike paths
About 4.1% of Rochester is conserved land, roughly 1,492 acres. There are about 34 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Quarry Hill Park (7.4 mi), Willow Creek Reservoir Park (3 mi), and Essex Park (3 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Rochester, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Rochester outdoors
Conserved land
4.1%
1,492 of 36,328 acres
Trails
34 mi
0.6 mi per sq mi · 5 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
114
12 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
194.6 mi
43.7 mi lanes · 143.1 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
Willow Creek Reservoir Park
Park
196 acres3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Essex Park
Park
167 acres3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Cascade Meadows Wetlands
Park
114 acres1.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Foster Arend Park
Park
53 acres1.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
Gamehaven Reservoir Park
Managed by City of Rochester
299 acres1.1 mi of trail
3.5 Mile Border Trail
Dog rules not recorded
7
Indian Heights Park
Park
34 acres1.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Parkwood Hills Park
Park
24 acres0.9 mi of trail
Stream TrailWinter Sports TrailDevil's Colon
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 114 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 114 parks & preserves
Quarry Hill Park248 acres · 7.4 mi of trail
Willow Creek Reservoir Park196 acres · 3 mi of trail
Essex Park167 acres · 3 mi of trail
Cascade Meadows Wetlands114 acres · 1.8 mi of trail
Foster Arend Park53 acres · 1.2 mi of trail
Gamehaven Reservoir Park299 acres · 1.1 mi of trail · City of Rochester
Indian Heights Park34 acres · 1.1 mi of trail
Parkwood Hills Park24 acres · 0.9 mi of trail
Jean & Carl Frank Canine Park9 acres · 0.5 mi of trail
Northern Hills Prairie Park10 acres · 0.4 mi of trail
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Playgrounds in Rochester
Showing 1–10 of 50 playgrounds
(private)
Air Insanity
Brookestone Park
Emerald Hills PlaygroundIn Emerald Hills Park
Greystone Tot Lot
Playground (Private)
Playgrounds (3)In Schmidt Park
Roy Sutherland PlaygroundIn Soldiers Field Memorial Park
Three LinksIn Silver Lake Park
Tot LotIn Southern Woods Park
141 more unnamed playgrounds are mapped in Rochester.
Trails
Named trails
Open to bikes 4.5 miUnpaved 21.4 mi
Showing 1–10 of 11 trails
- Quarry Ruins Trail1.7 mi
- Woodland Trail1.7 mi
- Winter Sports Trail1.4 mi
- Savanna Trail1.3 mi
- Stream Trail0.5 mi
- Pond/Prairie Trail0.5 mi
- 3.5 Mile Border Trail0.3 mi
- Silver Creek Trail0.3 mi
- Reservoir Drive Southwest0.1 mi
- Devil's Colon0.1 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Showing 1–10 of 23 places
Autumn LakeBamber LakelakeCascade LakelakeCascade Meadow LakelakeFoster Arend LakelakeFreshman PondpondGamehaven ReservoirlakeInterlachen LakelakeKR-6 Reservoir (PROPOSED)reservoirLake Georgelake
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
1,492 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes43.7 mi
- Off-road bike paths143.1 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes7.8 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball89
- Tennis74
- Soccer67
- Basketball24
- Volleyball16
- Football9
- Beach volleyball6
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Rochester
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Park 1,304 acState Conservation Area 187 ac
Showing 1–10 of 15 places
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gordon W. Yeager State Wildlife Management AreaState Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 187 | Restricted |
| Zumbro ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 112 | Open |
| Woodside ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 108 | Open |
| Foster Arend ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 53 | Open |
| Smetka ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 53 | Open |
| Roy Watson Youth Sports ComplexLocal Park | Town or city | 53 | Open |
| Cascade Lake ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 48 | Open |
| Silver Lake Park EastLocal Park | Town or city | 41 | Open |
| Mayowood Corridor County ParkLocal Park | County | 40 | Open |
| Mcquillan FieldsLocal Park | Town or city | 39 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Showing 1–10 of 13 places
Historic StructureIn Quarry Hill Park · Archaeological site
Historic StructureIn Quarry Hill Park · Archaeological site
Historic StructureIn Quarry Hill Park · Archaeological site
Matthews Heritage DomePlaque
Plummer BuildingBuilding
Quarry Hill RuinsIn Quarry Hill Park · Ruins
Soldiers Field Veterans MemorialIn Soldiers Field Memorial Park · War memorial
Stone BuildingIn Olmsted County Fairgrounds · Ruins
Calvary CemeteryCemetery
Grandview Memorial GardensCemetery
Nearby
Rochester and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Rochester'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 38.2-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.