Biking and Walking Paths

The City of Harrisonburg offers various walking/running trails throughout the various parks.

Purcell Park

Purcell Park has a 1.5-mile path around the park and is a popular target among Harrisonburg residents.

Purcell Park map with with walking paths [PDF].

Image of gravel walking path. Trees and grass are surrounding the path.

Image of small pedestrian bridge going over Blacks Run in Purcell Park.

Ralph Sampson Park

Ralph Sampson Park has a paved path looping the perimeter of the park.

Ralph Sampson map with walking path [PDF].

Smithland Athletics Complex

Smithland Athletics Complex has a natural surface trail (0.75 miles) as well as comfort stations.

Smithland Athletics Complex map with walking path [PDF].

Bluestone Trail

This 2-mile shared-use path connects James Madison University to Stone Spring Road, exploring JMU Campus, Purcell Park, and neighborhoods in between. The shared-use path is 10-feet wide, hard surfaced, and is used by many walkers, joggers, and bicyclists for transportation and recreation.

Trail Information
Challenge level: Moderate
Distance: 2 miles
Elevation change: 110 feet, grades up to 14%
Terrain: 10-feet wide hard surfaced trail with short on-street connection
Parking: Parking is available at Purcell Park

Bluestone Trail [PDF]

image of a paved trail one person walking on the trail. Trees with red, orange, and green leaves surround the trail.

Map of Blue stone trail that is the same as the above PDF. Trail begins at the cross road of Port Republic and Hillside avenue. The trail in indicated in orange where it is a separate trail from the road. Trail is indicated in purple where trail on on Butler Street. Trail goes up Hillside Avenue, down Butler Street, and then cuts through Purcell Park. Trail continues out of Purcell Park to Stone Spring Road.

Northend Greenway

Northend Greenway This 1-mile shared-use path connects neighborhoods and destinations in the north part of the city. It is envisioned to link Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, Eastern Mennonite University, Eastern Mennonite School, Downtown Harrisonburg, and more. The Northend Greenway is being constructed in multiple phases, and the most recent phase along Mt. Clinton Pike opened in 2024. The City continues to work with stakeholders and funders to obtain the resources needed to build the remaining segments of the Greenway.

Trail Information
Challenge level: Easy
Distance: 2.5 miles planned
Elevation change: 26 feet, minimal slopes
Terrain: Hard surfaced trail with short on-street connections

Northend Greenway Map [PDF]

paved path with split rail fence on right side. Bushes and small trees line both sides of the trail.

Map of the Nothend Greenway that is the same of the above PDF. Image indicates the location of Eastern Mennonite University with Mt Clinton Pike segment of the trail indicated in light green with words "Mt Clinton Pike Project: Completed 2024". Phase 1 of trail indicated in darker greed with words "Phase 1: completed in 2019" and "stream restoration". Brookside phase indicated with light green line and words "Brookeside Phase: construction in 2025". Dark green line with words "additional segment completed in 2019". Dotted light green line with words "future path segments". The bottom of the map indicates where downtown Harrisonburg is located.

Friendly City Trail

This 2.2-mile shared-use path that connects Harrisonburg High School and Bluestone Elementary to Thomas Harrison Middle School and Westover Park, meandering alongside Heritage Oaks Golf Course and through Hillandale Park on its course. The shared-use path is hard surfaced and is used by many walkers, joggers, and bicyclists for transportation and recreation.

Trail Information
Challenge level: Easy
Distance: 2.2 miles
Elevation change: 280 feet, grades up to 6%
Terrain: Hard surfaced trail with short on-street connections
Parking: Parking is available at Hillandale Park and Westover Park.

Friendly City Trail [PDF]

photo of two people riding bikes on paved path. There are trees on the right side of the trail and shrubs on the left side of the trail. Mountains and the sunrise can be seen in the background

photo of three people and a dog walking on the paved trail. There is a split rail fence and telephone poles on the right side of the trail and trees on the left side.

Map of the Friendly City Trail that is the same as the above PDF. Harrisonburg High School, Bluestone Elementary School, Hillandale Park, Rocktown Trails, Thomas Harrison Middle School, and Westover Park locations are indicated on the map. Purple lines are used to show shared use paths, blue lines show on road segments, and greens lines show existing shared use paths.

Rocktown Trails & Hillandale Park

Rocktown Trails at Hillandale Park is a joint effort of Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition volunteers and the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). The trail system offers three different levels of difficulty to appeal to a complete spectrum of runners, walkers and cyclists from novice to expert. Designed and developed in accordance with the IMBA guidelines for sustainable shared-use trails, it has a system of stacked loop trails with three levels of difficulty.

There are two entrances to the trails: (1) in the parking lot across from Shelter #11 in Hillandale Park for vehicular parking and (2) for pedestrian and cyclist users at the far west end of South Avenue where South Avenue intersects with South Dogwood Drive (no vehicular parking allowed).

The trails are also open to runners and walkers.

Trail Information
Challenge level: easy, medium, hard
Distance: multiple options (easy loop is 1 mile)
Elevation change: 29 feet on the easy loop, grades up to 15% on easy loop
Terrain: Hard surfaced trail with short on-street connections
Parking: Parking is available at Hillandale Park and Westover Park.

Rocktown Trails Map [PDF]

Hillandale Map with walking paths [PDF].