Running trails in Bloomington, IN
Bloomington has 19 trails in the directory — 7 paved and 4 on crushed gravel or dirt, 3 loops that return to the trailhead, 2 with a stated distance, 4 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 12 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 4,098 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.
Switchyard Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 845 reviews
Community park featuring picnic and barbecue areas, athletic courts and fields, a playground, and a stage.
Lower Cascades Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 840 reviews
Green space with an extensive fully accessible playground, picnic shelters & a paved trail.
Karst Farm Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 717 reviews
Recreation area with athletic fields, picnic shelters, playgrounds & a splash pad, plus a dog park.
Leonard Springs Nature Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 597 reviews
Park offering hiking trails and a waterfall, plus caves and beaver dams, springs.
Will Detmer Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 277 reviews
Pretty park with playgrounds, trails and a pond, plus community gardens.
Wapehani Mountain Bike Park
4.2 ★★★★☆ 187 reviews
Wooded outdoor area for mountain biking and hiking, offering trails around a lake, plus easy options.
Cedar Bluffs Nature Preserve
4.7 ★★★★★ 156 reviews
Nature preserve featuring a limestone bluff, hiking, and wildlife sightings.
Charles C. Deam Wilderness
4.8 ★★★★★ 102 reviews
Encompassing nearly 13,000 acres, this preservation area offers over 37 miles of trails.
Amy Weingartner Branigin Peninsula Preserve
4.3 ★★★★☆ 79 reviews
Nature preserve featuring hiking trails, fossils, and a beach.
Porter West Preserve
4.5 ★★★★★ 61 reviews
Wooded nature reserve featuring hiking trails and an old cemetery.
Karst Farm Greenway Trailhead
4.7 ★★★★★ 36 reviews
Peaceful, kid-friendly hiking area featuring a paved trail.
Latimer Woods
4.1 ★★★★☆ 35 reviews
Old-growth forest featuring a nature trail with signs detailing the area's history.
B-Line Trail
4.8 ★★★★★ 28 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Bloomington
- Match the surface to your legs. Bloomington gives you a choice: 7 paved, 3 natural surface, 2 mixed, and 1 crushed gravel. 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? 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 Bloomington is Charles C. Deam Wilderness at 36 mi. 1 trail is long enough for a 5-mile-plus run without repeating yourself.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 1 trail in Bloomington is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 12 of the 19 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 12 have trailhead parking, 8 have restrooms, and 6 have a water fountain in Bloomington. 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, 2 with mile markers, 6 that runners describe as quiet, 9 dog-friendly, and 8 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 Bloomington trails by type
- Paved trails
- Natural surface trails
- Mixed trails
- Crushed gravel trails
- Loop trails
- Long-run trails (5+ mi)
- Shaded trails
- Hilly trails
- Scenic trails
- Trails with restrooms
- Trails with water fountains
- Trailhead parking
- Trails with mile markers
- Quiet, uncrowded trails
- Dog-friendly
- Stroller & wheelchair-accessible
Running trails near Bloomington
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.