Ashland Grand Tour: Lithia Park, Central Trail, North Mountain Park, S. Oregon University

We’ve designed a ~10k ‘runseeing’ tour hitting the main Ashland highlights: Lithia Park, Southern Oregon University, North Mountain Park, the Central Bike Path, and two running tracks! Can be done in any order, in sections, and good options for shorter/longer. Note: hilly!

Start with 1 mile out and back at Lithia Park, just west of downtown. The 100-acre park is home to the Shakespeare Festival Theater, grassy lawns, & gardens. The ~1 mile paved Lithia Park Trail features 100 interpretive signposts (guide)  (Note: you can also do a ~3 mile loop around the park on the perimeter roads).

Exit the north end of the park onto B St. for 0.8 miles, a pleasant, tree-lined residential street. Turn RIGHT on S Mountain St., passing the high school (running track!), into the campus of Southern Oregon University, enjoying some of the paths there, and a great running track at Raider Stadium. Just east of there at Hunter Park, you’ll head north, doing 1 mile of the 2-mile Central Bike Path. Exit the path onto N Mountain Ave., which has a decent sidewalk, into North Mountain Park, a pleasant city park with an 0.8 mile paved path. Head out through the park and return on one of the the pleasant ‘lettered’ streets (A-C), or E Main St.

Add-Ons/Variations: Can add another ~0.5 miles south on the Central Bike Path to its southern end at Tolman Creek Rd. Can also run the neighborhood east of Lithia Park to get to the University (Iowa St,, Ashland St.). Just west of Lithia Park, there’s the pretty Scenic Drive road (no sidewalk), and a path through Hald/Strawberry Park. Also, at the south end of Lithia Park, dirt roads and hiking trails continue south into the mountains (very hilly!).