Running trails in Zion, IL
Zion has 6 trails in the directory — 1 paved, 1 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 4 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 5,727 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.
Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 4,800 reviews
This 4,160-acre park with diverse scenery & wildlife offers camping, fishing, hiking & boating.
North Dunes Nature Preserve
4.6 ★★★★★ 372 reviews
Large waterfront preserve featuring beaches, trails through diverse landscapes & an array of birds.
Shiloh Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 233 reviews
Park with a playground, picnic areas, sports fields and courts, and a pond, plus trails.
Beulah Park Nature Area
4.4 ★★★★☆ 136 reviews
Scenic park featuring a playground, a creek and an open-air trail network for walking and biking.
Sterling Lake
4.7 ★★★★★ 87 reviews
Popular lake surrounded by a park with trails, fishing and wildlife viewing.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Zion
- Match the surface to your legs. Most of what's here is paved (1 of 6). 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. 1 trail in Zion is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 4 of the 6 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 1 is lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 3 have trailhead parking, 2 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Zion. 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, 6 that runners describe as quiet, 2 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 Zion trails by type
Running trails near Zion
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.