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Running trails in State College, PA
State College has 16 trails in the directory — 2 paved and 3 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 boardwalk, 2 shaded, and 1 open 24 hours. 10 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 3,525 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.
Tom Tudek Memorial Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 763 reviews
Local park with a playground, basketball & tennis courts, a walking path & a dog-friendly area.
Millbrook Marsh Nature Center
4.7 ★★★★★ 326 reviews
50 acres of protected wetlands with boardwalks & trails for hiking & wildlife viewing.
Orchard Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 228 reviews
Park with playgrounds, a picnic area & an amphitheater, plus softball, tennis & other sport courts.
Sunset Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 207 reviews
Wooded park featuring trails & picnic areas plus a playground, basketball court & ball field.
Shingletown Gap
4.7 ★★★★★ 189 reviews
Kid-friendly hiking area featuring a variety of easy and moderate trails.
Lederer Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 158 reviews
Nature site with an arboretum, picnic pavilions & grills, plus walking & mountain-biking paths.
Walnut Springs Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 94 reviews
Secluded, wooded park offering walking trails that are good for kids.
Autumnwood Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 78 reviews
Tranquil recreational area featuring a storybook trail and athletic fields for sports like soccer.
Suburban Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 60 reviews
Recreational spot featuring baseball, basketball, tennis courts, a playground, and picnicking.
Gerhold Wildflower Trail
4.8 ★★★★★ 12 reviews
Bellefonte Rail Trail Start
5 ★★★★★ 6 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in State College
- Match the surface to your legs. State College gives you a choice: 3 natural surface, 2 paved, 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 natural surface 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. 1 trail in State College is open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 10 of the 16 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 7 have trailhead parking, 9 have restrooms, and 4 have a water fountain in State College. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 2 shaded, 7 that runners describe as quiet, 4 dog-friendly, and 7 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 State College trails by type
Running trails near State College
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.