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Running trails in Anacortes, WA
Anacortes has 17 trails in the directory — 4 on crushed gravel or dirt, 8 loops that return to the trailhead, 1 shaded, and 2 open 24 hours. 8 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 3,841 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.
Washington Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 1,688 reviews
This 220-acre city park offers camping, a boat launch, day-use picnic sites & a scenic loop road.
Cap Sante Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 1,090 reviews
37-acre wooded parkland offering hiking trails, wildlife & elevated vistas of the marina.
Sharpe Park & Montgomery-Duban Headlands
4.7 ★★★★★ 226 reviews
Forested park with scenic views and hiking paths leading to cliff-top vistas over the water.
Mount Erie Summit Trail
4.8 ★★★★★ 169 reviews
Destination for walks & hikes on scenic trails, with areas for picturesque mountain & water views.
Cranberry Lake Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 126 reviews
Trail-lined lake popular for hiking, biking, swimming and kayaking.
Sugarloaf Mountain Trailhead
4.6 ★★★★★ 117 reviews
Hiking spot with several trails that vary from flat to steep.
Little Cranberry Lake: A Avenue Trailhead
4.8 ★★★★★ 93 reviews
Hiking area with forested trails, including a loop around Cranberry Lake, and swimming.
Pass Lake Loop Trail
4.6 ★★★★★ 85 reviews
Kid-friendly hiking area in a forest with boats.
Tommy Thompson Trail, MARCH'S POINT RD
4.6 ★★★★★ 53 reviews
Scenic pedestrian trail featuring beautiful views of the ocean and a bridge across a sound.
Anacortes Community Forest Lands North
4.7 ★★★★★ 44 reviews
Expansive park network encompassing over 2,800 acres of wetlands, meadows, forests & lakes.
Kiwanis Meadows
4.8 ★★★★★ 27 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Anacortes
- Match the surface to your legs. Anacortes gives you a choice: 4 natural surface and 4 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 natural surface trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? 8 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.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 2 trails in Anacortes are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 8 of the 17 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm. 2 are lit, which is what you want for winter evenings.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 14 have trailhead parking, 6 have restrooms, and 2 have a water fountain in Anacortes. 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, 2 with mile markers, 3 that runners describe as quiet, 9 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 Anacortes trails by type
Running trails near Anacortes
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.