Running trails in Lakewood, CO
Lakewood has 14 trails in the directory — 3 paved, 3 loops that return to the trailhead, 1 with a stated distance, 4 shaded, and 1 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 7,572 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.
Belmar Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,745 reviews
Tree-filled park offering hiking & biking paths, a playground & facilities, plus stone artwork.
William Frederick Hayden Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 1,280 reviews
Scenic mountain park & wildlife habitat with a multi-use trail system, plus restrooms.
Addenbrooke Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 1,209 reviews
Green space with baseball fields, a playground & courts for basketball & tennis plus picnic areas.
Kendrick Lake Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,095 reviews
Grass-covered park featuring a playground, baseball diamond and water fountain, plus a paved walking path.
Bear Creek Greenbelt
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,061 reviews
Creekside park area featuring multi-use paths & an ample picnic shelter, plus fishing & geocaching.
Sunset Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 340 reviews
Neighborhood park featuring a basketball hoop, a picnic pavilion, a playground & a walking loop.
Coyote Gulch Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 248 reviews
Vast park with a baseball area, picnic tables, benches, swings and slides, plus views of the Red Rocks.
Union Square Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 236 reviews
Park with playgrounds and walking trails around two lakes and ponds for ducks, geese and squirrels.
Green Gables Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 158 reviews
Local fields (used for baseball, football, and soccer practice) and a playground dot this leafy park.
Main Reservoir Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 53 reviews
Laid-back park with picnic tables, a trail around the lake and a reservoir for fishing.
Ute Trail Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 51 reviews
Park featuring a community garden along with swingsets and a playground.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Lakewood
- Match the surface to your legs. Lakewood gives you a choice: 4 mixed and 3 paved. 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 mixed trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? 3 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 Lakewood is Kendrick Lake Park at 1 mi.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 1 trail in Lakewood is 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 14 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 2 have a water fountain in Lakewood. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 4 shaded, 9 that runners describe as quiet, and 10 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 Lakewood trails by type
Running trails near Lakewood
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.