1
Living Desert Zoo & Gardens
Park
652 acres2.1 mi of trail
Ocotillo Hills Nature Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
Outdoors · Carlsbad
Carlsbad, NM parks, trails & bike paths
About 11% of Carlsbad is conserved land, roughly 2,144 acres. There are about 21 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Living Desert Zoo & Gardens (2.1 mi), Bataan Recreation Area (0.8 mi), and Lake Carlsbad Recreation Area (0.7 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Carlsbad, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Carlsbad outdoors
Conserved land
11%
2,144 of 20,356 acres
Trails
21 mi
0.7 mi per sq mi · 4 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
32
68 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
8.3 mi
3.0 mi lanes · 5.4 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
Bataan Recreation Area
Park
42 acres0.8 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
3
Lake Carlsbad Recreation Area
Park
36 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Carlsbad Youth Sports Complex
Park
164 acres0.4 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
5
Plaza de San Jose
Park
10 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 32 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 32 parks & preserves
Living Desert Zoo & Gardens652 acres · 2.1 mi of trail
Bataan Recreation Area42 acres · 0.8 mi of trail
Lake Carlsbad Recreation Area36 acres · 0.7 mi of trail
Carlsbad Youth Sports Complex164 acres · 0.4 mi of trail
Plaza de San Jose10 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Pecos River Village Recreation Area24 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Riverview Park10 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park9 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park72 acres
Will Merchant Park23 acres
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Campgrounds in Carlsbad
Dowling Aquatic BaseBoy Scouts of America
Windmill RV Park
Trails
Named trails
Unpaved 1.1 mi
- Ocotillo Hills Nature Trail1.1 mi
Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
2,144 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes3.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths5.4 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball39
- Basketball25
- Tennis22
- Soccer7
- Pickleball4
- Football3
- Skate park1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Carlsbad
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
National Public Lands 764 acState Resource Management Area 586 acState Park 371 acLocal Recreation Area 203 acLocal Park 178 ac
Showing 1–10 of 15 places
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carlsbad Field OfficeNational Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 764 | Open |
| State Trust LandState Resource Management Area | State land board | 586 | Open |
| Living Desert State ParkState Park | State parks | 371 | Open |
| Youth Sports ComplexLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 164 | Open |
| Millennium ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 47 | Open |
| Carlsbad Wildife RefugeConservation Area | Bureau of Reclamation | 41 | Open |
| Lake Carlsbad Recreation AreaLocal Park | Town or city | 33 | Open |
| Pecos River Village Recreation AreaLocal Park | Town or city | 25 | Open |
| Carlsbad Softball Complex/Will Merchant ParkLocal Recreation Area | Town or city | 23 | Open |
| Riverview ParkLocal Park | Town or city | 11 | Open |
History
Historic places to visit
Alejandro R Ruiz MemorialIn Alejandro Ruiz Memorial Park · Memorial
Eddy County PitsMine
M-42 DusterIn Veteran's Memorial Park · War memorial
Time CapsuleIn Millenium Park · Memorial
Carlsbad CemeteryCemetery
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Carlsbad'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 33.9-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.