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Running trails in Murrieta, CA
Murrieta has 19 trails in the directory — 2 paved and 6 on crushed gravel or dirt, 2 loops that return to the trailhead, 2 with a stated distance, 3 shaded, and 3 open 24 hours. 13 of them post opening hours, so you can check the gate before an early start. They're ranked here by rating weighted by review volume, across 3,250 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.
Los Alamos Hills Sports Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,121 reviews
40-acre park housing many athletic fields & walking paths, plus picnic tables & 2 shaded play areas.
Mountain Pride Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 399 reviews
Woodsy park offering frisbee golf, softball and baseball fields, plus hiking trails.
Tenaja Falls
4.6 ★★★★★ 271 reviews
National forest waterfall accessed via a trailhead with spring cascades teeming with birdlife.
Glen Arbor Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 243 reviews
Tree-filled, grassy park & popular local haunt for dogs to run around off-leash.
Lower Copper Canyon Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 151 reviews
Neighborhood recreational park offering a baseball field, basketball hoops & trails.
Warm Springs Park and Preserve
4.2 ★★★★☆ 145 reviews
Public park with walking & biking trails, picnic tables, mature trees & horseshoe pits.
Tenaja Falls Trail
4.6 ★★★★★ 107 reviews
Beautiful waterfall in a remote woodland area reached by steep, sometimes rocky trails.
Murrieta Barratt Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 107 reviews
Park featuring a playground and a nature trail.
La Alba Trail
4.6 ★★★★★ 93 reviews
Kid-friendly dirt option for hiking and biking, featuring creek crossings and hilly sections as well as many snakes.
Sykes Ranch Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 95 reviews
Kid-friendly area with trails for hiking, biking and dog-walking, plus picnic tables and swings.
Bear Valley Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 47 reviews
City park with picnic tables and trails that's suitable for children.
Century Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 44 reviews
Small park with a walking trail that's suitable for kids.
Keller Trail
4.8 ★★★★★ 11 reviews
Cole canyon fitness trail
4.5 ★★★★★ 6 reviews
Sky Canyon
3.5 ★★★★☆ 6 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Murrieta
- Match the surface to your legs. Murrieta gives you a choice: 6 natural surface, 2 paved, and 1 mixed. 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 natural surface trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? 2 trails here are loops, so you finish back at the car with no backtracking — the easiest way to run a set distance without thinking about it. On an out-and-back you turn round at half your target distance, which makes any trail fit any run. The longest stated distance in Murrieta is Tenaja Falls Trail at 4.5 mi.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 3 trails in Murrieta are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 13 of the 19 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 9 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Murrieta. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 shaded, 1 with mile markers, 5 that runners describe as quiet, 9 dog-friendly, and 1 smooth and wide enough for a stroller or a wheelchair. 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 Murrieta trails by type
Running trails near Murrieta
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.