Running the trails and paths of California
I use the sport of running as a means to explore when I travel. I can get places faster and check out a destination in a different way by running ‘behind the scenes.’ On our trip to California in December, we ran some trails, roads and a tiny bit of track. Everywhere we ran had its own special magic. We got to do runs in the LA area, Yosemite and north of San Francisco. This post will highlight the best runs from our trip. You can link to the full rundown of my trip to learn more about our California adventure.
Prior to arriving at each of our destinations, I looked up potential running routes and hikes in the area. You can do this directly on the park sites or just by googling the area. I also look on All Trails and use my Strava or Footpath apps to plan out nearby routes.
Exploring the foothills
While we were staying in the LA area, we went on a few runs and did one track workout. For our longer runs, we ran on the dirt trails of the Claremont Wilderness Park at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and the Angeles National Forest. The park has some great trails that are popular for hiking, mountain biking and trail running. That includes the Thompson Creek Trail, a nice biking and running path along the foothills. We also headed to Pomona College to do a brutal 5 mile tempo workout on the track.
Checking out the yosemite Trails
Once our trip took us up north, we moved primarily to trails. At Yosemite National Park, our time was limited, so we ended up doing our runs on hiking trails in the park. Our first run was on the Mirror Lake Trail, which offered an enchanting setting around a lake and allowed us to leave from our doorstep in the Curry Village.
Yosemite trail running
On our second day, I ran solo around the valley on the Valley Loop Trail. This trail was mostly paved, with parts of the run in more remote areas of the valley. I was petrified the entire time that I would come across a bear running alone, but thankfully that did not happen! Even still, it was a great way to check out the valley in the early, misty morning when most people were still sleeping. In fact, while we were there, we didn’t see any larger animals on any of our runs.
On our last morning, we took a run around the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail. We got out early before the tour buses and crowds started piling up at the falls. You can see in the photos above that we were completely alone. Such a treat in this often crowded park! It felt special to have the place all to ourselves with the valley dew in the air.
Running in Golden Gate Recreation Area
The next part of our trip took us to the Bay Area. We chose to stay north of the city to be closer to nature. And since we were very close Golden Gate National Recreation Area, we could leave from our doorstep to the trails nearby. The vast network of trails and fire roads in this area gives you tons of running options. For our first run there, we mixed it up and ran a few different interconnected trails with spectacular views of the ocean and coast. And since we were largely on fire roads, the terrain wasn’t too technical.
On our second day in the area, we got lucky to be invited by a friend to a group run up Mt. Tamalpais. Mt Tam has a stunning 2,571 foot peak with a panorama view of the surrounding hills, valleys and ocean. The out and back peak run was hard as hell, but worth every bit of the toughness.
Some running Resources
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