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Running trails in Elizabethtown, PA
Elizabethtown has 6 trails in the directory — 1 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 loop that returns to the trailhead, 1 with a stated distance, 3 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 1,160 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.
Elizabethtown Borough Community Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 409 reviews
Children's play area, with slides and a fort made of wood.
Conewago Recreation Trail
4.6 ★★★★★ 357 reviews
Flat, 5-mile rail trail that borders fields and woods and traverses farmland.
Old Trolley Line Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 112 reviews
Park with a baseball field, playground, trails, picnic areas and dog-walking space.
Lebanon Valley Rail Trailhead
4.8 ★★★★★ 13 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Elizabethtown
- Match the surface to your legs. Elizabethtown gives you a choice: 1 paved, 1 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? 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 Elizabethtown is Conewago Recreation Trail at 5 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 Elizabethtown 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 6 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 3 have trailhead parking, 4 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Elizabethtown. 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, 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 Elizabethtown trails by type
Running trails near Elizabethtown
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.