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Running trails in Yelm, WA
Yelm has 7 trails in the directory — 3 paved and 2 on crushed gravel or dirt, 1 shaded, and 2 open 24 hours. 6 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 1,345 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.
Cochrane Memorial Park
4.5 ★★★★★ 435 reviews
Shaded park featuring ponds teeming with ducks and other wildlife, plus walking trails.
Longmire Community Park
4.4 ★★★★☆ 366 reviews
Clean park featuring a playground, baseball fields and a football field that can fit 2 soccer fields.
Deschutes Falls Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 228 reviews
Park featuring Deschutes Falls, hiking trails, a viewing platform, and picnic areas, as well as opportunities for birdwatching.
Yelm-Tenino Trail
4.5 ★★★★★ 179 reviews
Paved trail for hiking and biking that runs between Yelm and Tenino.
Yelm Prairie Line Trailhead
4.3 ★★★★☆ 75 reviews
Scenic paved path for walking, roller skating, biking and jogging, plus trails for hiking.
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Yelm
- Match the surface to your legs. Yelm gives you a choice: 3 paved and 2 natural surface. 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? 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. 2 trails in Yelm are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 6 of the 7 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 5 have trailhead parking, 5 have restrooms, and 1 has a water fountain in Yelm. 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, 1 with mile markers, 1 that runners describe as quiet, 4 dog-friendly, and 3 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 Yelm trails by type
Running trails near Yelm
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.