Running trails in Evansville, IN
Evansville has 17 trails in the directory — 5 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 2 boardwalk, and 3 shaded. 13 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 7,148 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.
Burdette Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 1,929 reviews
Huge, 170-acre park & recreation area featuring mini-golf, waterslides, playgrounds & more.
Garvin Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 1,682 reviews
Established in 1915, this public park features a historical bandstand & stone bridges.
Mickey's Kingdom Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,354 reviews
Fenced riverfront park for children with ample play equipment like slides and swings (for all ages).
Howell Wetlands
4.5 ★★★★★ 479 reviews
Photography is popular at this 35-acre natural area with marshes, hiking & wildlife viewing.
Wesselman Woods
4.6 ★★★★★ 260 reviews
Park featuring a nature center, an outdoor playground and animal exhibits.
Sunset Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 249 reviews
Relaxed, riverside park featuring a playground, picnic tables and a bike trail.
Bayard Park
4 ★★★★☆ 213 reviews
Modest neighborhood park with a large play structure plus a picnic area & walking paths.
Wesselman Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 176 reviews
Sprawling recreation area offering baseball fields, basketball goals and a nature center.
Moutoux Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 185 reviews
Soccer park with several fields, a lake for fishing, playgrounds, picnic facilities & geocaching.
Deaconess Sports Park EVV
4.5 ★★★★★ 167 reviews
Baseball and softball complex with turf fields, 8 in all, offering concessions, restrooms, playgrounds and ample parking.
Evansville State Hospital Grounds
4.6 ★★★★★ 139 reviews
Park featuring ducks, geese and squirrels, plus frisbee golf.
Diamond Valley Park
3.7 ★★★★☆ 155 reviews
Relaxed urban park featuring a fishing pond with ducks & turtles, a footbridge & benches.
Eagle Slough Natural Area
4.3 ★★★★☆ 108 reviews
Wetland & forest reserve with a lake, abundant birdlife & a trail along an old railway line.
North Woods Nature Trails
4.7 ★★★★★ 9 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Evansville
- Match the surface to your legs. Evansville gives you a choice: 5 paved, 2 boardwalk, 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? 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. 13 of the 17 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 3 are lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 4 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Evansville. 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, 5 that runners describe as quiet, 4 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 Evansville trails by type
Running trails near Evansville
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.