There are very few things I like more than waking up on Sunday morning to go run the trails over at Maclay Gardens State Park. It’s one of the reasons why I think it would be hard to beat Tallahassee if you were looking for a place where you can run trails year-round. You might laugh at that
and question whether the trails are really runnable during the summer, but remember that while the local high school XC teams head north for their summer camps, the south Florida XC kids come up to Tallahassee for theirs. I guess weather really is all relative.

When I go to other places and I look up trails, invariably I’m on some sort of pavement. In Tallahassee, we have our choice of trails – real trails with clay, dirt, sand, grass, or something that isn’t paved. It’s no wonder we get called Trailahassee. Which brings me to the subject of this column. There are so many trails in Tallahassee that it seems like I’m finding new ones all the time. In case you are new here or just are looking for new trails, here are some of my favorites:

1. The Eleanor Klapp Phipps Park trail system has something for everyone. From the beautiful east and west loops to the many, many miles of single track, this is my go to place. You can get a glimpse of Lake Jackson from the west loop, and on the Oak Hammock single track trail in a clockwise direction you can run a Strava segment that someone colorfully named, “This segment truly sucks…” You’ll have to run it yourself and use Strava to see exactly what it sucks, but I disagree with the color commentary on that one – it’s beautiful and the sharp curves and roots hide the fact that you have a ridiculous amount of elevation gain.

2. Across Meridian Road is the stunning Maclay Gardens State Park. The Ravine Trail and the Lake Trail, both aptly named, are approximately a 5 mile figure eight of what can only be called the real Florida.

3.Tom Brown – Lafayette Heritage Park – Alford Greenway. You can start at any of those places since they all connect and enjoy a little bit of everything – sand, grass, roots, big hills, and both sunshine and shade. Expert tip – don’t try to run at the Alford Greenway in late afternoon
without some device with a map on it to help you find your way back. Just trust me on this and don’t ask me how I know.

4. Miccosoukee Greenway, aka “Micc” to the high school kids. It is over 7 miles from the Fleishmann trailhead to the Crump trailhead. One time when I was recovering from an injury and was not going to go more than five miles, my “friends” kept saying just one more, it’s a beautiful day.
Next thing I know, we’ve gone the entire trail and I’m adding on a half mile at the end of the way back to get to 15. It’s that great a place that I didn’t even regret it too much.

5. Munson Trails – so this place is stunning, and another place to get lost at. The bugs are way too bad to run this during the summer, but in late fall, winter, and spring, it’s unbelievable. Go to the trailhead for St. Mark’s just south of Capital Circle. The trailhead for Munson heads off to the west near the bathrooms there. I have no idea how many miles of trails are back there, all I know is that you better have a device with a GPS when you go there. Just trust me on this one also.

6. Apalachee Regional Park – In 2026, Tallahassee is hosting the World Cross Country Championships. The course at “the ARP” is truly world class. It’s host to the high school state championships every year, and it’s been host to collegiate championships, U.S. championships, and now the world. If you’ve never run this masterpiece of grass and clam shells, you need to. It’s remarkably beautiful for being built at a waste management facility, aka the dump. Wait until you see what they are going to do to turn this into a challenging world championship course. If you go out now, you can see the signs that tell you what’s about to happen. It’s both a little scary and exciting at the same time.

There are so many more, from the red clay out at Old Centerville Rd., aka “Bradley’s” to my kids, to Leon Sinks, which isn’t for running, but is a stunning day hike, or the Wakulla Springs trails, just to name a few. If you have favorites, reach out and let me know. I’m always looking for new places to run. Happy Trails!