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Running trails in Parsippany, NJ
Parsippany has 8 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 2 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, 2 with a stated distance, 1 shaded, and 2 open 24 hours. 5 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 1,735 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.
Smith Field Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 584 reviews
League sports (soccer, football, softball) keep this public park active, as do courts & playgrounds.
Lake Parsippany Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 421 reviews
Sizable park with athletic fields & courts, plus playgrounds, picnic areas, horseshoe pits & paths.
Veterans Memorial Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 293 reviews
Community green space with a playground and a soccer field plus picnic tables.
Old Troy Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 145 reviews
This 96-acre park provides forested hiking & snowshoeing trails, athletic fields & a playground.
Veteran's Park Turf Field
4.7 ★★★★★ 124 reviews
Spacious green space featuring soccer fields, walking trails, playgrounds and picnic tables.
Troy Meadows Nature Preserve
4.4 ★★★★☆ 83 reviews
This 3,000-acre freshwater wetlands reserve offers rugged paths & a diverse wildlife habitat.
Hills of Troy Park
4.2 ★★★★☆ 71 reviews
Grassy park for baseball and basketball games, plus swings, slides and a climbing area.
Sheraton Walking Park
4.9 ★★★★★ 14 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Parsippany
- Match the surface to your legs. Parsippany gives you a choice: 2 natural surface, 1 paved, and 1 mixed. 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 natural surface 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 Parsippany is Veterans Memorial Park at 54 mi. 1 trail is long enough for a 5-mile-plus run without repeating yourself.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 2 trails in Parsippany are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 5 of the 8 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. 6 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Parsippany. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 1 shaded and 3 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 Parsippany trails by type
Running trails near Parsippany
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.