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Running trails in Winston-Salem, NC
Winston-Salem has 17 trails in the directory — 7 paved and 3 on crushed gravel or dirt, 5 loops that return to the trailhead, 2 with a stated distance, 4 shaded, and 1 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 4,510 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.
Hanes Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 898 reviews
Park featuring fields for soccer & baseball, tennis courts & play equipment for toddlers & big kids.
Salem Lake Trail
4.7 ★★★★★ 684 reviews
Popular, kid-friendly park alongside Salem Lake, offering picnic tables and a playground.
Miller Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 648 reviews
Serene park with trails through wooded areas with streams, plus sports fields & picnic shelters.
The Quarry at Grant Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 471 reviews
Park featuring a playground and a lake, plus views of the city skyline, along with trails.
Union Cross Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 484 reviews
Public park with a wide range of amenities, including lighted fields, courts & horseshoe pits.
Hobby Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 439 reviews
Park offering a wooded mountain biking trail & an open area with strips for R/C aircraft.
Reynolds Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 274 reviews
Open space with a recreation center, a pool, a playground, picnic shelters & athletic courts.
Jamison Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 208 reviews
City park with a playground, picnic shelter, paved greenway, and tennis balls for dogs at the fenced-in dog park.
Bethabara Park Trail Access
4.5 ★★★★★ 161 reviews
Looping trail system in the woods with workout stations and picnic tables.
Muddy Creek Greenway
4.7 ★★★★★ 54 reviews
Pet-friendly outdoor space featuring paved trails for biking, hiking and skating.
Walking Trails
4.9 ★★★★★ 38 reviews
Scenic and peaceful park featuring hiking and walking trails, as well as flowers and wildlife.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Winston-Salem
- Match the surface to your legs. Winston-Salem gives you a choice: 7 paved, 3 natural surface, 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 paved trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? 5 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 Winston-Salem is Salem Lake Trail at 7 mi. 2 trails are long enough for a 5-mile-plus run without repeating yourself.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 1 trail in Winston-Salem is 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 17 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. 11 have trailhead parking, 9 have restrooms, and 4 have a water fountain in Winston-Salem. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 4 shaded, 7 that runners describe as quiet, 12 dog-friendly, and 5 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 Winston-Salem trails by type
- Paved trails
- Natural surface trails
- Mixed trails
- Loop trails
- Long-run trails (5+ mi)
- Shaded trails
- Lit for early & night runs
- Flat & fast
- Hilly trails
- Scenic trails
- Trails with restrooms
- Trails with water fountains
- Trailhead parking
- Quiet, uncrowded trails
- Dog-friendly
- Stroller & wheelchair-accessible
Running trails near Winston-Salem
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.