Home › California › Ukiah
Running trails in Ukiah, CA
Ukiah has 15 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, 1 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 10 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 1,276 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.
Low Gap Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 486 reviews
Sprawling park featuring disk golf, hiking and tennis areas, and playgrounds.
Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve
4.8 ★★★★★ 442 reviews
Trails loop through a fern forest & 5 separate unlogged groves of 2 distinct redwood species.
Observatory Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 101 reviews
Quaint green space (a dog-friendly one) with picnic tables, shade trees and oval-shaped paths.
Mill Creek
4.5 ★★★★★ 95 reviews
Mountain park that offers trout fishing and swimming in a lake with dams.
McGarvey Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 82 reviews
Local park offering a swimming pool, as well as facilities for golf and picnicking.
Ukiah Rail Trail | North Trailhead
3.7 ★★★★☆ 11 reviews
Mill Creek Park Ridge Trailhead
4.8 ★★★★★ 5 reviews
Valley View Trailhead (East)
4.5 ★★★★★ 2 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Ukiah
- Match the surface to your legs. Ukiah gives you a choice: 1 paved 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. 1 trail in Ukiah is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 10 of the 15 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 2 are lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 4 have trailhead parking, 2 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Ukiah. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 1 shaded, 4 that runners describe as quiet, 4 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 Ukiah trails by type
Running trails near Ukiah
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.