Summer is upon us, which means now is the time to plan weekend getaways, epic road trips and vacations around trail running.
Whether you’re chasing a finish line, supporting friends who are racing, or tackling long mountain runs, chasing ridgelines and bagging peaks, building a vacation around trail running can transform an ordinary trip into a full-blown adventure. With a little planning, you can blend trail racing, exploration, and recovery into one unforgettable journey.
A trail running vacation is not a compromise between an athletic goal and a real holiday. Done right, it is both—fully and simultaneously. The mountains, canyons, forests, and coastlines that host the best trail races in the United States and Canada are also some of the most breathtaking and culturally rich destinations on the continent.
When you build a trip around a race or a trail running adventure, you don’t give anything up. You gain a reason to go deeper into a place than most tourists ever do, and you leave knowing it in a way that no guided tour can replicate.
Here are nine ways a trail running vacation might be the best trip you’ve ever taken.
1. The Race Can Become an Anchor—and Your Excuse
Every great trip needs a reason to go. A trail race gives you one that is specific, motivating, and non-negotiable. You registered months ago. You’ve been training. The start line is waiting. That commitment transforms a vague idea—”we should visit Colorado sometime”—into a real trip with real dates. The race anchors everything, and around it, a whole vacation takes shape.
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2. The Terrain Is the Destination
Trail races are not held in parking lots. They are held in places of genuine geological drama—the jagged peaks of the Colorado Rockies, the otherworldly red rock formations of Moab, the old-growth rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, the volcanic ridgelines of the Cascades, the relentless technical trails of New England, the fog-laced coastal trails of Northern California. The Canadian Rockies around Banff and Jasper offer terrain so spectacular it borders on disbelief. When you race through these landscapes, you aren’t just passing through them. You are inside them in a way that a car window, a viewpoint overlook or the screen on your phone will never offer.
3. You’ll See Things No One Else Sees
Trail races routinely take runners into backcountry areas that casual visitors never reach — remote ridge lines, hidden alpine lakes, canyon interiors accessible only on foot after miles of climbing. The views from these places are not on Instagram in the way the popular overlooks are. They are earned, and they belong, in a private way, to the people willing to work for them. Some of the most stunning vistas of your life will come at mile 14 of a race when your legs are burning and the horizon suddenly opens into something you weren’t prepared for.
4. The Culture, History, and Food Are Part of the Package
Trail running destinations are rarely just trail running destinations. Leadville, Colorado, carries the weight of a silver mining boomtown turned legendary ultramarathon mecca. Bend, Oregon is a craft beer and culinary hub surrounded by volcanic wilderness. Whistler, British Columbia blends world-class mountain culture with outstanding restaurants and a lively arts scene. Santa Fe hosts some of the finest Southwestern cuisine and Indigenous art in North America. Flagstaff sits at the gateway to the Grand Canyon. The town you race in or near is almost always worth several days of exploration on its own terms—the running just gives you a reason to be there.
5. Rest Days Become Alt Adventure Days
In the days before or after a race, when your legs need recovery and your schedule opens up, a trail running destination delivers. Rent a kayak. Visit a hot spring. Tour a historic site. Take a scenic drive through a National Park. Eat at the restaurant you’ve been eyeing since you arrived. (I will never forget the amazing tacos I snarfed down at the Whiptail Grill in Springdale, Utah, after finishing the 48-mile Zion Traverse.)
Trail running towns tend to attract people who love the outdoors broadly, which means the infrastructure for adventure—outfitters, gear shops, guide services, incredible local knowledge—is almost always available. Rest days stop feeling like downtime and start feeling like bonus days.
6. The Trail Running Community Welcomes You In
Show up to a trail race anywhere in North America and you will find the same thing: a community of people who are genuinely glad you came. Trail runners ask about your training, share course knowledge, cheer for strangers with the enthusiasm of a hometown crowd, and gather at the finish line long after their own race is done.
The people you meet at races become the unexpected highlight of the trip—the seemingly random runners you spend chatting with over long miles on the trail—and sometimes long-term friends. When you’re traveling, do a Google search for local trail running clubs and don’t hesitate to drop in on local running store fun runs. You’ll feel as welcome as you wound in your home town and will no doubt pick up tips about where to run.
7. It Works for Every Kind of Traveler
A trail running vacation doesn’t require elite fitness or hundred-mile ambitions. Races come in every distance and trail running adventures can be as casual as a guided half-day hike on a famous route or an obscure trail. Families can structure trips so that one or two members race while others explore. Couples can alternate between running days and sightseeing days. Solo travelers will find trail races to be among the most welcoming environments imaginable. The format is flexible enough to fit nearly any group, budget, or fitness level.
8. National Parks Are Great Running Destinations
Visiting national parks specifically for trail running offers a unique way to experience some of the most scenic and rugged landscapes in the country while covering far more ground than traditional hiking. From alpine singletrack and desert slickrock to forested ridgelines and volcanic terrain, parks across the U.S. provide runners with unforgettable terrain, dramatic scenery, and immersive wilderness experiences. For many runners, trail running in national parks blends adventure, endurance, and exploration into a deeply rewarding way to connect with nature.
9. You’ll Leave Knowing a Place
This is perhaps the most underrated gift a trail running vacation offers. When you have run the trails above a town, eaten at its restaurants, slept in its neighborhoods, and stood at its trailheads in the early morning dark, you know a place differently than the traveler who spent three hours there between bus stops. You have a relationship with it. You understand its geography from the inside. You know which café opens earliest, which trail connects to which ridge, which local runner gave you the best advice you ignored and then wished you hadn’t. That kind of knowing is what turns a destination into a place you genuinely love — and almost certainly return to.
The trails are out there. The races are on the calendar. The only thing left is to pick a destination, register for a race, and start planning the best trail running vacation you’ve ever taken—one mile, one climb, and one unforgettable view at a time.
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Authors
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UltraSignup Director of Media Brian Metzler was the founding editor of Trail Runner magazine, has written for Runner's World, Outside, and Sports Illustrated, and is the author “Kicksology: The Hype, Science, Culture and Cool of Running Shoes” (2019) and “Trail Running Illustrated” (2021). He has raced just about every distance from 100 meters to 100 miles, but he’s most eager to share stories about his experiences burro racing in Colorado and riding trains to trail runs in Chamonix.
