Running trails in Cortland, NY
Cortland has 12 trails in the directory — 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, 1 shaded, and 5 open 24 hours. 9 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 1,114 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.
Yaman Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 546 reviews
Wooded site with a lakefront beach, a skate park & spacious picnic areas with pavilions & grills.
Lime Hollow Nature Center
4.7 ★★★★★ 333 reviews
Sculpture-dotted nature space with easy, well-marked trails, plus a visitor center.
Courthouse Park
4.1 ★★★★☆ 159 reviews
Relaxed park with a fountain, memorials and sculptures.
Suggett Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 31 reviews
Finger Lakes Trail - Tone Road Trailhead
4.7 ★★★★★ 10 reviews
Finger Lakes Trail - West River Road Trailhead
4.7 ★★★★★ 7 reviews
Fingerlakes Trail Neil Brook Trail, Trailhead
4.3 ★★★★☆ 3 reviews
Fingerlakes Trail - Carson Road trailhead
4.5 ★★★★★ 2 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Cortland
- Match the surface to your legs. Most of what's here is natural surface (1 of 12). 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.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 5 trails in Cortland are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 9 of the 12 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. 2 have trailhead parking, 2 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Cortland. 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, 1 with mile markers, 1 dog-friendly, and 3 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 Cortland trails by type
Running trails near Cortland
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.