1
Mallard Creek Community Park
Park
242 acres4.6 mi of trail
Mallard Creek 5k Course
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Charlotte
Charlotte, NC parks, trails & bike paths
About 6.7% of Charlotte is conserved land, roughly 13,434 acres. There are about 138 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Mallard Creek Community Park (4.6 mi), Reedy Creek Regional Park (4.2 mi), and Park Road Park (3.1 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Charlotte, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Charlotte outdoors
Conserved land
6.7%
13,434 of 200,154 acres
Trails
138 mi
0.4 mi per sq mi · 81 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
179
15 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
412.4 mi
199.1 mi lanes · 161.4 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
Reedy Creek Regional Park
Park
299 acres4.2 mi of trail
Sierra Loop TrailDragonfly Pond TrailSassafras Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Park Road Park
Park
97 acres3.1 mi of trail
Park Road Park Loop
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Ribbonwalk Nature Preserve
Nature preserve
189 acres2.8 mi of trail
Wetlands TrailBeech Walk TrailTricklin' Stream TrailHardwood Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
McAlpine Creek Park
Park
150 acres2.6 mi of trail
Larry McAfee Course At McAlpine Creek Park
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
6
James Boyce Park
Park
71 acres2.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
7
Ballantyne Community Park
Park
97 acres2.2 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
8
Marion Diehl Park
Park
86 acres2.2 mi of trail
Marion Diehl
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 179 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 179 parks & preserves
Mallard Creek Community Park242 acres · 4.6 mi of trail
Reedy Creek Regional Park299 acres · 4.2 mi of trail
Park Road Park97 acres · 3.1 mi of trail
Ribbonwalk Nature Preserve189 acres · 2.8 mi of trail
McAlpine Creek Park150 acres · 2.6 mi of trail
James Boyce Park71 acres · 2.4 mi of trail
Ballantyne Community Park97 acres · 2.2 mi of trail
Marion Diehl Park86 acres · 2.2 mi of trail
Nevin Regional Park195 acres · 2.1 mi of trail
Freedom Park100 acres · 1.7 mi of trail · Charlotte Mecklenburg Parks and Recreation
Who protects the land
13,434 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 163 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. Public access isn't recorded for 27 of 285 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes199.1 mi
- Off-road bike paths161.4 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes51.8 mi
- Backyard Trails (bike route)12.7 mi
- Middle Third (bike route)5 mi
- Flat Branch Trails (bike route)2.6 mi
- Park Road Park Loop (bike route)2.6 mi
- Farmbrook Loop (bike route)1.9 mi
- Marion Diehl (bike route)1.8 mi
- Tech Loop (bike route)1.5 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis644
- Basketball221
- Baseball216
- Soccer144
- Pickleball109
- Golf93
- Beach volleyball50
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Nearby
Charlotte and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 6.7% | 138.4 mi | 179 |
| Matthews | 6.1% | 4.1 mi | 15 |
| Pineville | 9.7% | 0.9 mi | 4 |
| Mint Hill | 2.3% | 7.6 mi | 6 |
| Marvin | 0.8% | 1.1 mi | 1 |
| Weddington | 0.6% | 0.3 mi | 1 |
| Huntersville | 11.1% | 10.0 mi | 18 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Charlotte'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 76.7-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.