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Running trails in Jacksonville, NC
Jacksonville has 13 trails in the directory — 2 paved and 2 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 boardwalk, 2 loops that return to the trailhead, 1 with a stated distance, 3 shaded, and 3 open 24 hours. 12 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 3,293 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.
Northeast Creek Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 1,034 reviews
City green space featuring sports fields, disc golf, a playground & a nature trail.
Richard Ray Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 719 reviews
Green space housing a playground, trails, benches & restrooms, plus a pond, picnic shelter & gazebo.
Riverwalk Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 380 reviews
Grassy gathering place for community events, with walking paths, seating areas & a stage.
Sturgeon City Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 311 reviews
Park featuring boardwalks and a playground, plus hiking trails, fishing, and picnic areas.
Rev. E. W. Wooten Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 284 reviews
Simple neighborhood park offering basketball courts, a children's playground & a picnic shelter.
Onslow County Parks: Oakhurst Landing and Nature Trail
4.4 ★★★★☆ 146 reviews
County park with 2 forested walking trails & a launch area on the New River for canoes & kayaks.
Big Branch Bike Park
4.9 ★★★★★ 119 reviews
Popular park featuring easy, intermediate and advanced mountain-bike trails and wooden features.
Montford Point Marine Memorial
4.8 ★★★★★ 104 reviews
Memorial dedicated to the first African Americans to serve in the United States Marine Corps.
Georgetown Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 73 reviews
Paved, clean park with a playground and a trail featuring exercise equipment.
Oakhurst Nature Park
4.3 ★★★★☆ 49 reviews
Country park featuring kid-friendly hikes and trails for walking, running, and dogs.
Onslow County Parks: Henry McAllister Landing
4.2 ★★★★☆ 41 reviews
Small park providing access to a kayak launch and a canoeing access point along a stream.
Tail-Trails
5 ★★★★★ 1 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Jacksonville
- Match the surface to your legs. Jacksonville gives you a choice: 2 paved, 2 natural surface, and 1 boardwalk. 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? 2 trails here are loops, 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 Jacksonville is Big Branch Bike Park at 1.5 mi.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 3 trails in Jacksonville are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 12 of the 13 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 5 have trailhead parking, 6 have restrooms, and 4 have a water fountain in Jacksonville. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 shaded, 1 with mile markers, 5 that runners describe as quiet, 3 dog-friendly, and 1 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 Jacksonville trails by type
Running trails near Jacksonville
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.