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Running trails in Paterson, NJ
Paterson has 7 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 3 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 15,231 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.
Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 11,212 reviews
National historical park known for a 77-ft. waterfall that sparked water-power development in 1792.
Pennington Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 929 reviews
This park along the Passaic River offers a baseball diamond & soccer field.
Barbour Park
4.1 ★★★★☆ 70 reviews
Tranquil, family-friendly green space for jogging, barbecues and kids, as well as a community hub.
Mary Ellen Kramer Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 57 reviews
Park with walking trails, for sightseeing and relaxing, focused on the Great Patterson Falls.
Yellow trail
5 ★★★★★ 2 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Paterson
- Match the surface to your legs. Most of what's here is paved (1 of 7). 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. 3 trails in Paterson 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 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. 4 have trailhead parking and 2 have restrooms in Paterson. 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 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 Paterson trails by type
Running trails near Paterson
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.