Running trails in Park Hills, MO
Park Hills has 2 trails in the directory — 2 paved, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, 1 with a stated distance, and 1 shaded. They're ranked here by rating weighted by review volume, across 1,651 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.
St. Joe State Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 1,632 reviews
4 miPavedShadedScenic
This park permits vehicles such as motorcycles & snow mobiles, plus offers lake swimming & trails.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Park Hills
- Match the surface to your legs. Most of what's here is paved (2 of 2). 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 Park Hills is St. Joe State Park at 4 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.
- The small things that decide it. 1 shaded and 1 that runners describe as quiet. 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 Park Hills trails by type
Running trails near Park Hills
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.