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Running trails in Cerritos, CA
Cerritos has 8 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 2 shaded. Every one post opening hours, so you can check the gate before an early start. They're ranked here by rating weighted by review volume, across 9,975 Google reviews. Filter by surface, loop, distance, shade or lighting to get to the run you're actually planning — no made-up difficulty score, just the facts you'd check before driving out.
Cerritos Heritage Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 3,329 reviews
Park has playgrounds & sports areas, plus a Play Island with slides attached to historic buildings.
Don Knabe Community Regional Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 3,189 reviews
Over 50 acres of outdoor activities, including a fishing lake, swimming pool & basketball courts.
Liberty Park and Fitness Center
4.6 ★★★★★ 2,052 reviews
Open space with a fitness center, ball fields, playgrounds, tennis courts & a disc-golf course.
Cerritos Park East (CPE)
4.6 ★★★★★ 991 reviews
Lush park featuring a lit jogging track, multiple baseball diamonds, sand area, spray pool & more.
Friendship Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 182 reviews
Laid-back green space featuring baseball and basketball courts, playgrounds, a covered patio and picnic tables.
Gridley Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 140 reviews
Neighborhood park featuring a basketball court and 2 playgrounds, plus picnic tables.
Saddleback Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 52 reviews
Petite neighborhood park featuring a play area, picnic tables, swings and shade.
Loma Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 40 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Cerritos
- Match the surface to your legs. Most of what's here is paved (1 of 8). Asphalt and concrete are fast, predictable and runnable year-round but the least forgiving; crushed limestone and dirt take the sting out of high mileage; boardwalk is flat and scenic but slick in the wet. If your shins or knees are complaining, the fix that actually works is varying the surface you run on rather than chasing one "best" one. More paved trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? A loop finishes back at the car with no backtracking; on an out-and-back you simply turn round at half your distance.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. Plenty of trails sit inside parks that gate at dusk and don't unlock until well after sunrise, so a trail that's perfect at lunchtime can be locked at 6am. 8 of the 8 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 3 are lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 8 have trailhead parking and 6 have restrooms in Cerritos. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 2 shaded, 5 that runners describe as quiet, and 2 dog-friendly. Busy or quiet isn't a good-or-bad thing here: a busy path is the safer choice for a solo run at dawn, a quiet one is better for intervals.
More on all of this in the trail-running guides.
Browse Cerritos trails by type
Running trails near Cerritos
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.