Running trails in Santa Rosa, CA

How to pick a trail in Santa Rosa

• Match the surface to your legs. Santa Rosa gives you a choice: 5 natural surface, 3 paved, 3 mixed, and 1 crushed gravel. 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 Santa Rosa is Trione-Annadel State Park at 45 mi. 6 trails are long enough for a 5-mile-plus run without repeating yourself.
• Check the hours before a 6am run. 1 trail in Santa Rosa is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 14 of the 23 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 1 is lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
• Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 13 have trailhead parking, 14 have restrooms, and 3 have a water fountain in Santa Rosa. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
• The small things that decide it. 5 shaded, 1 with mile markers, 10 that runners describe as quiet, 12 dog-friendly, and 11 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 Rosa trails by type

• Natural surface trails (5 in Santa Rosa)
• Paved trails (3 in Santa Rosa)
• Mixed trails (3 in Santa Rosa)
• Crushed gravel trails (1 in Santa Rosa)
• Loop trails (2 in Santa Rosa)
• Long-run trails (5+ mi) (6 in Santa Rosa)
• Shaded trails (5 in Santa Rosa)
• Lit for early & night runs (1 in Santa Rosa)
• Flat & fast (7 in Santa Rosa)
• Hilly trails (6 in Santa Rosa)
• Scenic trails (16 in Santa Rosa)
• Trails with restrooms (14 in Santa Rosa)
• Trails with water fountains (3 in Santa Rosa)
• Trailhead parking (13 in Santa Rosa)
• Trails with mile markers (1 in Santa Rosa)
• Quiet, uncrowded trails (10 in Santa Rosa)
• Dog-friendly (12 in Santa Rosa)
• Stroller & wheelchair-accessible (11 in Santa Rosa)

Running trails near Santa Rosa

Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.

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