1
Sunset Beach Park
Park
6 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Outdoors · Sunset Beach
Sunset Beach, NC parks, trails & bike paths
About 1.5% of Sunset Beach is conserved land, roughly 73 acres. There are about 11 miles of mapped trails.
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Sunset Beach, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Sunset Beach outdoors
Conserved land
1.5%
73 of 4,836 acres
Trails
11 mi
1.4 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
2
17 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
1.9 mi
1.9 mi lanes · 0.0 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
Bird Island Reserve
Nature preserve
17 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Beaches in Sunset Beach
Trails
Named trails
Unpaved 1.5 mi
- 40th Street Beach Access0.2 mi
- 35th Street Beach Access0.1 mi
- 14th Street Beach Access0.1 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
73 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. Public access isn't recorded for 2 of 5 parcels. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes1.9 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Tennis6
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Sunset Beach
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
State Other or Unknown 82 acLocal Recreation Area 5 acLocal Other or Unknown 1 ac
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bird Island Coastal ReserveState Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 65 | Open |
| NC Land and Water Fund ProjectState Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 16 | Restricted |
| Town of Sunset Beach - Sunset Beach ParkLocal Recreation Area | Not recorded | 5 | Open |
| NC Department of Transportation Mitigation SiteState Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 2 | Access unknown |
| Town of Sunset Beach Open SpaceLocal Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Access unknown |
History
Historic places to visit
Pleasant View CemeteryCemetery
Nearby
Sunset Beach and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunset Beach | 1.5% | 11.0 mi | 2 |
| Calabash | 0.2% | 9.7 mi | 0 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Sunset Beach'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.