1
Bond Park
Park
284 acres5.8 mi of trail
Lake TrailPine Cone TrailPaw Paw Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Cary
Cary, NC parks, trails & bike paths
About 9.3% of Cary is conserved land, roughly 3,667 acres. There are about 46 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Bond Park (5.8 mi), WakeMed Soccer Park (1.9 mi), and Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve (1.7 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Cary, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Cary outdoors
Conserved land
9.3%
3,667 of 39,620 acres
Trails
46 mi
0.7 mi per sq mi · 19 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
68
20 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
165.2 mi
32.0 mi lanes · 108.2 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
WakeMed Soccer Park
Park
151 acres1.9 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve
Nature preserve
136 acres1.7 mi of trail
Chestnut Oak Loop TrailSwift Creek Loop TrailBeach Tree Cove Trail
Dog rules not recorded
4
Walnut Street Park
Park
13 acres1.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Swift Creek Bluffs Nature Preserve
Managed by Triangle Land Conservancy
23 acres1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
6
Crabtree Creek Mitigation Project
Managed by Wake County
464 acres0.8 mi of trail
Lake Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Thomas Brooks Park
Park
244 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
8
Middle Creek School Park
Park
115 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
All 68 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 68 parks & preserves
Bond Park284 acres · 5.8 mi of trail
WakeMed Soccer Park151 acres · 1.9 mi of trail
Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve136 acres · 1.7 mi of trail
Walnut Street Park13 acres · 1.1 mi of trail
Swift Creek Bluffs Nature Preserve23 acres · 1 mi of trail · Triangle Land Conservancy
Crabtree Creek Mitigation Project464 acres · 0.8 mi of trail · Wake County
Thomas Brooks Park244 acres · 0.8 mi of trail
Middle Creek School Park115 acres · 0.7 mi of trail
Davis Drive Park17 acres · 0.7 mi of trail
Penny Road Elementary School Park30 acres · 0.5 mi of trail
Who protects the land
3,667 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 73 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 44 of 137 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes32.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths108.2 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes25.1 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis162
- Baseball49
- Soccer48
- Basketball32
- Pickleball12
- Football11
- Beach volleyball10
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Cary and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cary | 9.3% | 45.7 mi | 68 |
| Morrisville | 4% | 1.6 mi | 6 |
| Raleigh | 16.1% | 106.4 mi | 172 |
| Apex | 4.1% | 5.5 mi | 25 |
| Durham | 9.4% | 82.3 mi | 85 |
| Holly Springs | 9.6% | 11.3 mi | 7 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Cary'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 47.6-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.