Paradise Valley Trail Runs

Description:

Paradise Valley Conservation Area is indeed a trail runner’s paradise, with mostly gently rolling trails of a variety of widths and speeds, from wide and straight promenades where you can stride out to serpentine pathways that wind between wetland cedar groves and meander up and down gentle ridges. The forest is just as varied and offers an enchanting journey to its visitors. The trails at Paradise Valley are a mix of wide and narrow, smooth and bumpy, straight and curvy, so the courses offer a good variety and will keep you on your toes.

All courses start out the same way, going out the medium-width mainline trail then out the Wetland Plateau Trail, which starts out narrow and eventually widens and joins the Southern Traverse Trail. The course passes the mid-loop aid station for the first time at 1.6 miles then narrows again when it turns onto the swoopy and gradually descending Lloyd bike trail.

At the bottom of Lloyd Trail, the 5k runners continue down and across the Mainline Trail and finish with a tour around the plateau above the start/finish on the Cascara Trail, which starts out relatively straight and then becomes increasingly curvy before rejoining the Mainline Trail for a short return to the finish.

The 10k loop and the second loop of the half marathon continue on back up the gentle slope and back to the aid station at 3.1 miles. The loops then cross the valley that bisects the area on Southern Traverse Trail before diverging and taking different meandering trails that gently descend again on the return toward the finish.