Running trails in Lake Wales, FL
Lake Wales has 8 trails in the directory — 2 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 2 loops that return to the trailhead, and 3 shaded. 3 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 1,402 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.
Kiwanis Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 551 reviews
Clean park featuring a skate park, baseball field and playground, plus covered seating and pavilions.
Lake Wales
4.6 ★★★★★ 490 reviews
Kid-friendly park offering basketball, baseball, and picnicking facilities, plus a pier, and a walking trail.
Lake Wailes Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 211 reviews
Relaxed park featuring basketball courts and playgrounds, as well as a long paved trail around a lake .
Creek Bluffs Loop Trailhead, The Nature Conservancy's Tiger Creek Preserve
4.7 ★★★★★ 78 reviews
Nature preserve featuring trails that showcase desert-like areas, wooded spots, and a creek with bridges.
Barbara B. Pedersen Wildlife Preserve
4.5 ★★★★★ 36 reviews
Wooded wildlife preservation area of about 40 acres with hiking trails and lake views.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Lake Wales
- Match the surface to your legs. Lake Wales gives you a choice: 2 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? 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.
- 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. 3 of the 8 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 3 have trailhead parking, 4 have restrooms, and 3 have a water fountain in Lake Wales. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 shaded, 2 with mile markers, 4 that runners describe as quiet, 1 dog-friendly, and 1 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 Lake Wales trails by type
Running trails near Lake Wales
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.