Living Desert Zoo & Gardens
Park
652 acres2.1 mi of trail
Ocotillo Hills Nature Trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Outdoors in Carlsbad
Parks & playgrounds in Carlsbad
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
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 people
Bike routes
8.3 mi
3.0 mi lanes · 5.4 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
3
2 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Carlsbad?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
This week on the trails
Best day for a walk: Saturday
75°, mostly sunny, 7% chance of rain.
Today68° 56°37% rain
Sat75° 56°7% rain
Sun80° 61°3% rain
Mon79° 57°14% rain
Tue84° 59°0% rain
Wed86° 61°2% rain
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
★ What stands out · Things to do
44 places to go in Carlsbad
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in Carlsbad
Playgrounds in Carlsbad
22 more playgrounds
4 more on the map.
Dog parks in Carlsbad
Boat launches in Carlsbad
Picnic areas in Carlsbad
Campgrounds in Carlsbad
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Living Desert Zoo & Gardens, with 2.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Bataan Recreation Area
Park
42 acres0.8 mi of trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Lake Carlsbad Recreation Area
Park
36 acres0.7 mi of trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Carlsbad Youth Sports Complex
Park
164 acres0.4 mi of trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
All 32 parks & preserves
🌳
Riverview Park10 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
🌳
Will Merchant Park23 acres
🌳
Davis Park7 acres
🌲
La Cueva Non-Motorized Trail System6 acres · Bureau of Land Management
🌳
Arcadia Park5 acres
🌳
C.H. McLenathen Park5 acres · Carlsbad Parks Department
🌳
Veteran's Memorial Park3 acres
🌳
Cass Park3 acres
🌳
Riverside Country Club Park1 acres
🌳
South 8th Street Neighborhood Park1 acres
Biking & sports
8.3 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
3.0 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
5.4 mi
off-road bike paths
0.0 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
39Baseball
25Basketball
22Tennis
7Soccer
4Pickleball
3Football
1Skate park
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
Trails & water
1 named trail and 3 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.1 mi
Ocotillo Hills Nature Trail1.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Who protects it
2,144 conserved acres
Who manages Carlsbad’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Bureau of Land Management764 ac
State land board586 ac
Town or city381 ac
State parks371 ac
Bureau of Reclamation41 ac
National Public Lands · 764 acState Resource Management Area · 586 acState Park · 371 acLocal Recreation Area · 203 acLocal Park · 178 ac
The biggest protected places
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carlsbad Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 764 | Open |
| State Trust Land State Resource Management Area | State land board | 586 | Open |
| Living Desert State Park State Park | State parks | 371 | Open |
| Youth Sports Complex Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 164 | Open |
| Millennium Park Local Park | Town or city | 47 | Open |
| Carlsbad Wildife Refuge Conservation Area | Bureau of Reclamation | 41 | Open |
| Lake Carlsbad Recreation Area Local Park | Town or city | 33 | Open |
| Pecos River Village Recreation Area Local Park | Town or city | 25 | Open |
| Carlsbad Softball Complex/Will Merchant Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 23 | Open |
| Riverview Park Local Park | Town or city | 11 | Open |
5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
History along the way
History →4 historic sites to visit
Plus 1 cemeteries, often the oldest places in town.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Carlsbad neighbors.
Weigh in
Is Living Desert Zoo & Gardens the best walk in Carlsbad?
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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Trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, PAD-US. Measured against the Census town boundary. Forecast: National Weather Service.
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.