Running trails in Great Falls, MT
Great Falls has 7 trails in the directory — 2 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt and 1 open 24 hours. 2 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 2,282 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.
Gibson Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 1,688 reviews
Lush retreat featuring colorful gardens, paths, a duck pond, playground & a historic cabin.
West Bank Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 251 reviews
Clean riverside park featuring a playground, walking trails, and picnic tables.
Elks Riverside Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 151 reviews
Green space, with playground, walking trails and picnic tables, lining the Missouri River.
South Shore Trail Trailhead
4.8 ★★★★★ 95 reviews
Scenic space featuring paved and dirt trails for biking and hiking.
Black Eagle Memorial Island
4.7 ★★★★★ 69 reviews
Scenic park featuring a dam and a gravel trail, plus picnic tables for relaxing on.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Great Falls
- Match the surface to your legs. Great Falls gives you a choice: 2 paved, 2 mixed, and 1 crushed gravel. 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. 1 trail in Great Falls is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 2 of the 7 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 1 is lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 1 has trailhead parking, 3 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Great Falls. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 1 that runners describe as quiet and 3 dog-friendly. 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.