Running trails in Salina, KS
Salina has 17 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 with a stated distance, 3 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 9 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 2,647 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.
Jerry Ivey Memorial Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 703 reviews
Community venue featuring a playground & kids' spray park, plus tennis & basketball courts.
Indian Rock Park Salina Kansas
4.5 ★★★★★ 596 reviews
Waterfront park providing hiking trails, fishing, sledding hills, & picnic space, plus city views.
Sunset Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 578 reviews
City park with a botanical garden, gazebo, ball fields & picnic shelters, plus BBQs & tennis courts.
Lakewood Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 298 reviews
Frisbee golf spot in a clean park offering playgrounds, fishing and trails.
Thomas Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 154 reviews
Kid-friendly place featuring a disc golf course, Frisbee golf and a playground.
Oxbow Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 111 reviews
Playground in a parklike setting for picnics and kite flying featuring a dog-walking area, plus swings and slides.
Smoky Hill Audubon Harold Lear Wildlife Sanctuary
4.6 ★★★★★ 55 reviews
Peaceful nature area offering many trails for hiking and bird-watching.
Riverside Park
4.1 ★★★★☆ 36 reviews
River Woods Nature Area
4.5 ★★★★★ 19 reviews
Marty Bender Nature Trail
4.9 ★★★★★ 14 reviews
Lakewood Nature Trail
4.9 ★★★★★ 7 reviews
Founder's Park Path
5 ★★★★★ 1 reviews
Levee Trail System
5 ★★★★★ 1 reviews
Levee Trail System
4 ★★★★☆ 1 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Salina
- Match the surface to your legs. Salina 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? A loop finishes back at the car with no backtracking; on an out-and-back you simply turn round at half your distance. The longest stated distance in Salina is Marty Bender Nature Area at 3 mi.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 1 trail in Salina is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 9 of the 17 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 2 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Salina. 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, 3 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 Salina trails by type
Running trails near Salina
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.