Home › Washington › Mercer Island
Running trails in Mercer Island, WA
Mercer Island has 11 trails in the directory — 2 paved, 1 boardwalk, 3 loops that return to the trailhead, 1 with a stated distance, and 1 shaded. 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 4,113 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.
Luther Burbank Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 2,398 reviews
Visitors swim, boat & fish at this 7-acre lakefront park with a playground, dog run & wetlands area.
Aubrey Davis Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 518 reviews
Park offering sports facilities, a playground & a large open field with views of downtown Seattle.
Mercerdale Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 427 reviews
Chill, tree-covered trails with open space, picnic & play areas, plus summer & music festivals.
Pioneer Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 281 reviews
Deciduous & conifer forest on 113-acres with 6.6-miles of trails for hiking & horse riding.
Clarke Beach Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 220 reviews
Grassy, wooded area with a swimming beach, docks, picnic & BBQ areas & public rest rooms.
Deane's Children's Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 176 reviews
Recreation area with a playground featuring a dragon structure, picnic areas, and a bike skills facility.
Island Crest Park
4.8 ★★★★★ 57 reviews
Kid-friendly recreational area with grassy fields, a playground, kid-friendly hiking trails and a baseball field.
Ravine Trail
4.7 ★★★★★ 6 reviews
N. Mercerdale Hillside Open Space
4.6 ★★★★★ 5 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Mercer Island
- Match the surface to your legs. Mercer Island gives you a choice: 2 paved, 2 mixed, 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? 3 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 Mercer Island is Pioneer Park at 6.6 mi. 1 trail is long enough for a 5-mile-plus run without repeating yourself.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. Plenty of trails sit inside parks that gate at dusk and don't unlock until well after sunrise, so a trail that's perfect at lunchtime can be locked at 6am. 8 of the 11 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. 8 have trailhead parking, 6 have restrooms, and 3 have a water fountain in Mercer Island. 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, 4 that runners describe as quiet, 7 dog-friendly, and 8 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 Mercer Island trails by type
Running trails near Mercer Island
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.