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Running trails in Fond du Lac, WI
Fond du Lac has 9 trails in the directory — 2 paved and 1 on crushed gravel or dirt and 1 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 4,445 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.
Lakeside Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 3,428 reviews
Waterfront outdoor area with a quaint lighthouse, carousel & mini train ride, plus boat rentals.
Buttermilk Creek Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 372 reviews
Hilly park with 20-acres of lawns, playgrounds, tennis & basketball courts & a sledging slope.
Kiekhaefer Park
4.6 ★★★★★ 217 reviews
Scenic park with a sledding hill and disc golf, plus hiking, biking and horseback-riding trails.
Prairie Trail
4.3 ★★★★☆ 4 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Fond du Lac
- Match the surface to your legs. Fond du Lac gives you a choice: 2 paved and 1 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. 1 trail in Fond du Lac is 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 9 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. 4 have trailhead parking and 5 have restrooms in Fond du Lac. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 1 with mile markers, 2 that runners describe as quiet, and 4 dog-friendly. 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 Fond du Lac trails by type
Running trails near Fond du Lac
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.