Running trails in Lemont, IL
Lemont has 10 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 2 loops that return to the trailhead, and 1 open 24 hours. 5 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 720 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.
Lemont Centennial Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 197 reviews
Swimming pool, playground, baseball field and softball field.
Black Partridge Woods
4.4 ★★★★☆ 154 reviews
80-acre park in a ravine by a creek offering trails, a picnic area & a stone bridge.
Sagawau Canyon Nature Preserve
4.5 ★★★★★ 124 reviews
Nature preserve offering trails, fossil programs, and sky walks, plus skiing in the winter.
Lemont Heritage Quarries Recreation Area
4.7 ★★★★★ 85 reviews
Sprawling park featuring hiking trails, boating and picnics. There are also zip lines and canoes.
Keepataw Preserve
4.4 ★★★★☆ 60 reviews
Nature preserve offering kid-friendly hikes, a grass loop trail, and an overlook.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Lemont
- Match the surface to your legs. Lemont 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? 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. 1 trail in Lemont is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 5 of the 10 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 5 have trailhead parking and 2 have restrooms in Lemont. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 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 Lemont trails by type
Running trails near Lemont
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.