Home › California › Santa Ana
Running trails in Santa Ana, CA
Santa Ana has 11 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 2 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, and 2 open 24 hours. 9 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 2,193 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.
Carl Thornton Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 845 reviews
Green space featuring sports fields, a small lake & children's play area.
Santiago Park
4.2 ★★★★☆ 859 reviews
City green space with mature trees, fields, walking & biking paths & a playground.
Edna Park
4.1 ★★★★☆ 258 reviews
Waterfront park, popular for cycling, that features a children's play area.
Memory Lane Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 128 reviews
Exercise area and playground nestled along the Santa Ana River trail.
Bike Trail Bishop
4.8 ★★★★★ 6 reviews
Santa Ana River Trail - Mile Marker 9
4.7 ★★★★★ 3 reviews
Santa Ana River Trail- mile marker eight
4.7 ★★★★★ 3 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Santa Ana
- Match the surface to your legs. Santa Ana gives you a choice: 1 paved, 1 crushed gravel, and 1 natural surface. 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? 1 trail here is a loop, 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.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 2 trails in Santa Ana are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 9 of the 11 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 5 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 5 have a water fountain in Santa Ana. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 that runners describe as quiet, 2 dog-friendly, and 2 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 Santa Ana trails by type
Running trails near Santa Ana
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.