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Running trails in College Park, MD
College Park has 6 trails in the directory — 2 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, and 1 with a stated distance. 3 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 1,836 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.
Lake Artemesia Natural Area
4.8 ★★★★★ 1,157 reviews
Picturesque park featuring a paved path running around a lake as well as fishing piers.
Paint Branch Stream Valley Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 255 reviews
A neighborhood park with a stream, playground, baseball field, tennis courts & hiking trails.
Lake Artemesia Natural Area
4.9 ★★★★★ 174 reviews
Sunset themed park with a large lake that’s popular for leisurely hikes, fishing, bird-watching, and biking. It also has a playground.
Acredale Community Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 155 reviews
Neighborhood baseball park with a playground, fields, and picnic tables.
Little Paint Branch Trail
4.8 ★★★★★ 95 reviews
Popular area with woods and a creek offering walking, hiking and cycling trails plus tennis courts.
College Park Trolley Trail
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in College Park
- Match the surface to your legs. College Park gives you a choice: 2 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? 1 trail here is a loop, 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 College Park is College Park Trolley Trail at 3.5 mi.
- 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. 3 of the 6 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 1 has trailhead parking and 3 have restrooms in College Park. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 5 that runners describe as quiet, 1 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 College Park trails by type
Running trails near College Park
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.