Running trails in Montrose, CO
Montrose has 16 trails in the directory — 4 paved and 3 on crushed gravel or dirt and 2 shaded. 7 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 4,155 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.
Uncompahgre National Forest
4.8 ★★★★★ 1,870 reviews
Soaring green space with mountains, lakes & many scenic views, plus hiking trails & campgrounds.
Riverbottom Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 726 reviews
Waterfront park featuring a skate park, trails and playgrounds.
Baldridge Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 612 reviews
Regional river & lakeside park with a water sports center, disc golf, skate park, trail & fields.
Cerise Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 352 reviews
Park with trails, a state-of-the-art amphitheater, soccer, disc golf, and picnic tables, plus a dog park.
Montrose Water Sports Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 163 reviews
Playground, picnic tables, trails and river access, plus a disc golf course, in a scenic watersports park.
Taviwach Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 150 reviews
Park offering a pond for swimming and paddleboarding, plus picnic tables and trails.
West Main Trail Head
4.4 ★★★★☆ 81 reviews
City park featuring hiking and biking trails, picnic tables, and a public restroom.
Ute Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 66 reviews
Park with a public restroom where visitors can picnic and see plenty of geese.
Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area
4.5 ★★★★★ 22 reviews
Protected wilderness & canyon area popular for hiking & trout fishing, plus prehistoric paintings.
Billy Creek State Wildlife Area
4.2 ★★★★☆ 16 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Montrose
- Match the surface to your legs. Montrose gives you a choice: 4 paved, 3 natural surface, 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 paved trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? A loop finishes back at the car with no backtracking; on an out-and-back you simply turn round at half your distance.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. Plenty of trails sit inside parks that gate at dusk and don't unlock until well after sunrise, so a trail that's perfect at lunchtime can be locked at 6am. 7 of the 16 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 5 have trailhead parking, 6 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Montrose. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 2 shaded, 1 with mile markers, 3 that runners describe as quiet, 5 dog-friendly, and 3 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 Montrose trails by type
Running trails near Montrose
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.