Running trails in Red Wing, MN
Red Wing has 17 trails in the directory — 4 paved and 3 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 boardwalk, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, and 2 shaded. 10 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 3,215 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.
Colvill Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 941 reviews
City park offering a boat launch, tennis courts, picnic shelters & an event building.
Memorial Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 777 reviews
Scenic, elevated terrain with multi-use trails, picnic shelters & a 9-hole disc golf course.
He Mni Can/ Barn Bluff Trail Head
4.7 ★★★★★ 763 reviews
Access point for several hikes to the top of a landmark hill with panoramic city & river views.
Bay Point Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 228 reviews
Public green space with trails and scenic river views, plus picnic and playground areas, and a teepee monument.
Anderson Center Sculpture Garden at Tower View
4.6 ★★★★★ 144 reviews
Sculpture park that's free to enter and open during daylight hours, featuring work by numerous artists.
Memorial Park - Upper Quarry
4.9 ★★★★★ 93 reviews
Scenic park with an overlook of Red Wing and the Mississippi River, plus hiking trails.
Cannon Valley Trail - Old West Main Access
4.7 ★★★★★ 76 reviews
Paved rail-trail for bicycling and hiking that passes through scenic woods and parks.
He Mni Can - Barn Bluff Regional Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 64 reviews
Park featuring several hiking trails with views of the Mississippi River Valley and soaring bald eagles.
Hay Creek Management Unit
5 ★★★★★ 7 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Red Wing
- Match the surface to your legs. Red Wing gives you a choice: 4 paved, 2 natural surface, 1 crushed gravel, and 1 boardwalk. 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.
- 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. 10 of the 17 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 15 have trailhead parking, 6 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Red Wing. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 2 shaded, 2 dog-friendly, and 4 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 Red Wing trails by type
Running trails near Red Wing
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.