Family Summer Vacation...for runners

If they have to log miles and you want beauty then you have to get to Mt. Desert Island in Maine. Carriage trails are perfect and plenty to do.

We actually did exactly that two years ago. It's a terrific place.

Olympic National Park in Washington State. If I start to talk about the place I'll go on forever. Check it out, if you have specific questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help.

Yeah, I'll second a vote for Olympic. You can run miles on wide, flat beaches, or on great trails in the forest. You can also range from sea level to pretty decent altitude. If you like big trees the place is unreal. Plenty of variety.

Probably not quite what the OP was after as its much further afield but might be good for others. I spoke to the guys who were advertising their running holidays in Kenya on these boards.

Worth checking out for any running families. It was on Lornah Kiplagat's website

www.lornah.com

. Website says that minimum of 6 is needed for a booking but they said they would take fewer but just not all the way from Nairobi (it included a pick up in Nairobi/Safari before going to Iten for the running. So with less you just start at Iten - makes it cheaper as well but you had to sort your own internal flights and hotel in Nairobi if you needed it.)

Detroit

Possibly a few national parks up in the north?

Yellowstone and Glacier are not too far away to drive. Weather would be perfect in August. Not too hot or humid. Both places have some great trails. Just be sure to wear your bear bells or yell while running. Saved my life one time. Not even kidding.

Park City, UT over 300 miles of trails, you're up at altitude and have a ton of access to mountains. Rentals are a whole lot cheaper at the resorts during the summer too.

I'm a college runner and come from a family that loves to go on national park/nature-type vacations, in fact I've done these my entire life. I will add in another thumbs up for Olympic Natl Park, the sentiments shared here are exactly right, but beware of weather conditions there can be a week of rain or a dry spell. From my experience Yellow Stone can be brutal for runners. You can run in the early mornings and evenings (as I did) but during the day any other activities tire you out greatly due to heat and lack of cover (trees, etc) throughout the park. Whereas at Olympic you can hike during the day at a comfortable 70-75F, Yellowstone will dehydrate you and the sun will soon make the next run pretty miserable. I would also look into Acadia Natl Park and areas in northern Canada (sounds like you're in the NE so not too far of a drive) that are really beautiful in the summer.

Thanks guys, I am going to check out Olympic, I had not thought of that one, sounds very nice. I am big on National Parks, hard to beat Acadia, but we have been there a bunch, recently too. Yosemite was beautiful but not a good running spot, Yellowstone sounds like it is not ideal for a running vacation either, at least for Aug.

Utah also sounds nice, I may go skiing there this winter and check it out.

Northern Michigan has some great spots to enjoy the great great lakes - warm weather, golden sand beaches, reasonably priced, and plenty of fun day trips. the running can be great if you know where to look.

Some spots to consider that have great running -

Mackinaw Island

Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park (rent a lake house on Platte, little platte, Glen or lake Michigan, or stay at The Homestead by Glen Arbor

North end of Burt Lake (25 mins from Indian River) - rent a lake house, and run in the UofM research land (hundreds of miles of trails b/w burt lake and Douglas lake)

Good point by the other poster regarding weather. I went during spring break one year, camped in the rain-forest. It was either snowing or raining consistently the entire time. I was a dumb college kid who never pondered the idea of looking up a forecast. The weather differs about a million times depending on what part you are staying at...forest...beach...mountain. Deep into the forest though, one morning on a trail run I had to stop as 30+ deer were crossing... amidst the snow, with a perfect backdrop, I swear to you Hollywood could not capture the image I saw, once in a lifetime deal. Not saying you will get the same miracle viewing but the place is seriously cool- seriously.

Watch out for forks. I went before the Twilight books took over the world, but forks is apparently the setting for the novels. I can only imagine the small town has transformed itself to benefit from the ordeal.

If you are looking for a resort and not a camping ground I'd recommend Lake Quinault Resort for a more isolated stay, but the Lake Quinalt LODGE host many more people and might better suit your family.

this is the higher end in terms of pricing, but it will give you a good idea of the location. There are campgrounds, and plenty of lake homes to rent through VRBO.com

Michigander,

How are the running trails at Sleep Bear Sand Dunes National Park? My wife and I took a day trip there last year, mainly to hike/climb the dunes, but we never explored the running.

Thanks for the tip on Burt lake. We might have to check that out next year. Last summer, we spent a month at Fife Lake, which we loved. Literally thousands of miles of snowmobile trails right out the door.

Any other cities in northern Michigan you would recommend with good running trails?

Great running and sightseeing in Munich, Salzburg, Vienna with Munich Olympic site as well as Innsbruck and Garmisch-Partenkirchen to visit.

Lake Tahoe is nice.

Fife Lake wrote:

Michigander,

How are the running trails at Sleep Bear Sand Dunes National Park? My wife and I took a day trip there last year, mainly to hike/climb the dunes, but we never explored the running.

Thanks for the tip on Burt lake. We might have to check that out next year. Last summer, we spent a month at Fife Lake, which we loved. Literally thousands of miles of snowmobile trails right out the door.

Any other cities in northern Michigan you would recommend with good running trails?

Yeah, this thread is seven years old, but I was just recently considering a running-oriented vacation and was wondering about the running around Sleeping Bear Dunes. I've previously stayed in Traverse City, but could only find 1 decent trail (other than the beach) on which to run.

gregodensknee wrote:

Olympic National Park in Washington State. If I start to talk about the place I'll go on forever. Check it out, if you have specific questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help.

Yea to this. I went last summer and it was a blast. Lots of running around lake quinault, north fork river trail, hoh river trail, sul duc area. Man I wanted to run triples every day just to see as much as possible.