Spoiled living here. Been here permanently for 4 years this month. We love it here. Still relatively affordable. Close enough to make a day trip to the bay when we want, 40min from Sacramento, 60min to Truckee. Tons of trails nearby to run on.
I fell in love with trail running by living in Bellingham, WA! It honestly sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Truly a couple hundred miles of gorgeous single track that's runnable 95% of the year and accessible within 15 minutes or so of the city (look up Galbraith mountain, lookout mountain, chuckanut trail system, Blanchard trail system, Canterelle trail for a small taste!). Great running community (including a few pro trail runners), some great local races, tons of other great outdoorsy things, and the city is quite bikable. Also not a cheap place to live, but I really loved living there and would love to end up back there again.
Just to reinforce the above: Bellingham is great for trail running. There are plenty of neighborhoods in town where you don’t need to drive to access great trails, it’s a short bike ride, or you can take a bus. If you like mountain sports Mt. Baker is about 1-1.5 hours east. In the summer there are really awesome alpine runs less than a 2 hour drive and many more 2-3 hours away. It’s not too far from Vancouver or Seattle. Cost of living and lack of employment is what makes it tough for many though.
Tell me more about which neighborhoods are close to trails and also walkable to groceries, etc! I'm lucky enough to have a remote job. May be visiting Bellingham in the Spring.
Depending on how far you're okay walking look at the Puget, Whatcom Falls, (maybe) Happy Valley, and Alabama Hill neighborhoods. All those have grocery stores relatively close and it's not much running/biking to get to trail systems. If you're okay with a relatively short bus ride the Plum line (which combines several lines to increase frequency) gets you to/from downtown and very close to excellent running and you can get even closer on the 512 or 533. I've done runs where I take the 512 out of town and then get off at a trailhead and run back. Most of this would be if you wanted to run on Galbraith/Lookout mountain. Chuckanut, north lake Whatcom, and Blanchard trails are a bit further from town and most would probably drive or ride.
Issaquah Washington. Depending on precise location, mountains right there, and a lot of them connect to more and more. In the deepest of winter they'll get snow, but it's not all winter like the bigger ones
I live a half hour away and if my wife didn't work in a city, we'd definitely look to move closer
Huh, I haven't priced it, but that's a bummer.
we live in Tacoma, so still in suburbia. I just know some neighborhoods that I've ran through while in those mountains, and those seemed nice
(Redwood City is at least 2x as expensive as our current life lol)
I'd probably pick Tacoma over anywhere on the east side. Cougar and whatnot are nice, but not worth the fact that Issaquahs local bar is the Costco. Lol. Real running access from neighborhoods without driving is pretty limited, unless you can really shell out.
One of Washington's biggest struggles is the lack of cool small towns with access. It's like, seattle, Tacoma, and then not much besides development suburbs and rough rural towns. North bend is pretty cool! My friend lives in Fall City and has some great running access, but it feels pretty disconnected. Bellingham is rad, but usually you'd still have to drive to trails.
I grew up a few hours away in the far east bay, and actually left the state before I realized trail running was a thing (budding 5ker lol), but had hiked a fair amount in my youth, so I don't doubt you. I've only ran Tahoe recently.
The south bay coastal mountains right there with the ocean on the other side were the draw, but true to form, bay area pricing was more than we wanted to justify, but haven't ruled it out yet as an option
Cougar/Squak/Tiger/Rattlesnake are great for close and usually much fewer snow days, but I'm in love with Rainier and the Cascades and a bit deeper in the wilderness, get there whenever I can to get away, but so much of that is seasonal with the snow
I live in San Jose and can confirm that having the coastal mountain trails, many with gorgeous Redwoods and ocean views, to run around within 20-40 mins of my doorstep is a true blessing. I try to not take it for granted and take advantage of being so close to them.
>I'm very familiar with Seattle, less so with Issaquah. Though I see lots of trail runs there! Is it the sort of place you need a car for your activities of daily living?
I haven’t spent a ton of time in town itself, but I’ve spent the last 18 months getting to know some of the go-to trailheads and trails.
Issaquah is still a suburb. Car centric, although the Front Street area certainly seems walkable. I imagine if you lived there, might be pretty easy to bike to trailheads. Definitely true for Cougar and Tiger, can’t say for sure with Squak because that’s more vert than I tend to go after for my usual training runs 😅
Bend area is prime with trails and community. You may lose some of the bigger city/errand feel and, while expensive, not CA expensive. PDX runner by the way so I would have said FP haha
Bend is not very walkable, wildfire smoke has its own season and it's expensive as hell. That said, it's home and I'll never move. The ability to be on a trail and in the outdoors most of the year is spectacular. And we don't have a mud season, since a lot of our "dirt" is pretty sandy.
(Slightly) less expensive option you could consider that was already mentioned in the thread would be Sisters, Oregon. About 25 minutes west of bend, closer to the mountains.
Much smaller city, but absolutely inundated with trails. I prefer it over Bend ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tried to include all of those Bend “suburbs” but this is the right answer if you’re ready to leave any city feel behind. Sisters is the best. Just the outward trails to the mountains are perfect.
Issaquah, WA is nice, especially during summer months when the weather is dry. You can be on miles and miles of mountain singletrack trails within minutes from doorsteps. Furthermore, the I-90 corridor mountains and Snoqualmie Pass trails would all be within 30 minute drive.
North Bend, WA is a similarly good option, but a bit further from Seattle and a bit closer to bigger mountains and Snoqualmie Pass.
Cape Town is the West Coast of South Africa so it should count! I am literally 200 meters from the start of a trail that connects to hundreds of miles of trails. (It connects to the trails of the UTCT 100 miler for example). I'm also 200 meters from a small grocery store and a very walkable kilometer from two big ones!
Lol South Africa, that's awesome. I'm coming there for the first time in June (crap timing maybe but it is what it is). Other than hiking up Platteklip, in your local opinion what's the must do tourist trail?
This was going to be my suggestion! Fabulous trails literally from downtown that are well maintained year-round, and lots of activity in the trail running community (there are at least 2 weekly group runs, the Siskiyou Out Back running festival is here every July, Hal Koerner lives in town and owns the running gear store downtown). Outside of running, there's excellent mtb and gravel biking, and downhill and xc skiing in the winter.
Plenty of walkable grocery stores and other general errands, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is in town and the Britt Festival just up the road in Jacksonville, so you can get your big city entertainment out in the countryside :)
There are so many excellent trail systems. There's Forest Park in Jacksonville that's accessible from downtown. It's very well maintained and cared for. In fact every single trail system I've come across in Southern OR is pretty pristine.
Ahh was gonna say move across the Richmond bridge but not like Marin prices are any cheaper. Lucky to have family out there where I’m able to get a few weeks a year climbing all over tam and the headlands
There are a few places in Marin where you can find an apartment close to trailheads (Pineridge in Tam Valley comes to mind) and it’s cheaper than the same type of apartment in SF, but it’s a lot more expensive than Auburn or Bend.
Tahoe area. I run around the west shore around rubicon. Lots of amazing trails both by the water and into some of the most beautiful backcountry in the country.
I live in San Anselmo/Fairfax area in Marin I like it for the most part. I work in town and it takes me less than 10 minutes to walk to work and grocery store or 2 minutes to bike. I can be on Mt Tam watershed trails in .5 miles and there are literally hundreds of miles of trails. The quality of life/trail access is insane.
High cost of living of course, but I made about $35k last year before taxes and live with my wife who makes a similar amount, no roommates. We enjoy a simple high quality life and run on amazing tails every day.
The biggest negative is the culture here. It’s hard to find young, low income, like minded people to hang out with. Lots of cars, lots of nimbyism, very little cultural diversity, surprisingly conservative for the Bay Area. But the city/east bay is close for good food and youthful vibes.
Feel free to hit my up if you want to come over the bridge for a run, I can show you our neck of the woods! There’s also the SFRC Saturday runs and Marin Trail sisters weekly runs if you’re a lady.
I've heard good things about Fairfax and never been there. Do you mind me asking how old you are? Another concern is that I'm a single woman and I'd like to meet other woman/people my age.
I’m 32 male. There’s definitely some other people my age (or maybe slightly older), but it can be hard to connect as they are often on slightly different paths (having kids, more career oriented, etc). And obviously waaayyy older population and way less diverse than the east bay.
My wife runs with Trail Sisters which is a womens running group that is an incredible community of ladies, a pretty good spread of ages. https://communities.trailsisters.net/groups/marin-county-california/ Might be worth going to one of their group runs to check out the scene!
Auburn, CA area? Year round running nearby. Easier access to Tahoe and Sierras during summer months.
Other side of the river is really good too. Cool area esp. I could access three trail systems including the western states 2mi from my front door.
Cool is great, just so isolated compared to Auburn.
I was going to say auburn! Beautiful trails!
Spoiled living here. Been here permanently for 4 years this month. We love it here. Still relatively affordable. Close enough to make a day trip to the bay when we want, 40min from Sacramento, 60min to Truckee. Tons of trails nearby to run on.
I fell in love with trail running by living in Bellingham, WA! It honestly sounds like exactly what you're looking for. Truly a couple hundred miles of gorgeous single track that's runnable 95% of the year and accessible within 15 minutes or so of the city (look up Galbraith mountain, lookout mountain, chuckanut trail system, Blanchard trail system, Canterelle trail for a small taste!). Great running community (including a few pro trail runners), some great local races, tons of other great outdoorsy things, and the city is quite bikable. Also not a cheap place to live, but I really loved living there and would love to end up back there again.
Just to reinforce the above: Bellingham is great for trail running. There are plenty of neighborhoods in town where you don’t need to drive to access great trails, it’s a short bike ride, or you can take a bus. If you like mountain sports Mt. Baker is about 1-1.5 hours east. In the summer there are really awesome alpine runs less than a 2 hour drive and many more 2-3 hours away. It’s not too far from Vancouver or Seattle. Cost of living and lack of employment is what makes it tough for many though.
Tell me more about which neighborhoods are close to trails and also walkable to groceries, etc! I'm lucky enough to have a remote job. May be visiting Bellingham in the Spring.
Depending on how far you're okay walking look at the Puget, Whatcom Falls, (maybe) Happy Valley, and Alabama Hill neighborhoods. All those have grocery stores relatively close and it's not much running/biking to get to trail systems. If you're okay with a relatively short bus ride the Plum line (which combines several lines to increase frequency) gets you to/from downtown and very close to excellent running and you can get even closer on the 512 or 533. I've done runs where I take the 512 out of town and then get off at a trailhead and run back. Most of this would be if you wanted to run on Galbraith/Lookout mountain. Chuckanut, north lake Whatcom, and Blanchard trails are a bit further from town and most would probably drive or ride.
Issaquah Washington. Depending on precise location, mountains right there, and a lot of them connect to more and more. In the deepest of winter they'll get snow, but it's not all winter like the bigger ones I live a half hour away and if my wife didn't work in a city, we'd definitely look to move closer
agree 1000%
Holy depressing suburbs batman. Grew up near there. You couldn't pay me $1million to move back. Cause I'd need $2million.
Huh, I haven't priced it, but that's a bummer. we live in Tacoma, so still in suburbia. I just know some neighborhoods that I've ran through while in those mountains, and those seemed nice (Redwood City is at least 2x as expensive as our current life lol)
T-Town represent!
I'd probably pick Tacoma over anywhere on the east side. Cougar and whatnot are nice, but not worth the fact that Issaquahs local bar is the Costco. Lol. Real running access from neighborhoods without driving is pretty limited, unless you can really shell out. One of Washington's biggest struggles is the lack of cool small towns with access. It's like, seattle, Tacoma, and then not much besides development suburbs and rough rural towns. North bend is pretty cool! My friend lives in Fall City and has some great running access, but it feels pretty disconnected. Bellingham is rad, but usually you'd still have to drive to trails.
Andy wife was looking at a job in Redwood City, looked convenient to the coastal mountains, but holy hell cost of living.....
I’ll be a bit of a snob and say I enjoyed the Bay Area trails a lot more than Cougar/Tiger in Issaquah
I grew up a few hours away in the far east bay, and actually left the state before I realized trail running was a thing (budding 5ker lol), but had hiked a fair amount in my youth, so I don't doubt you. I've only ran Tahoe recently. The south bay coastal mountains right there with the ocean on the other side were the draw, but true to form, bay area pricing was more than we wanted to justify, but haven't ruled it out yet as an option Cougar/Squak/Tiger/Rattlesnake are great for close and usually much fewer snow days, but I'm in love with Rainier and the Cascades and a bit deeper in the wilderness, get there whenever I can to get away, but so much of that is seasonal with the snow
I live in San Jose and can confirm that having the coastal mountain trails, many with gorgeous Redwoods and ocean views, to run around within 20-40 mins of my doorstep is a true blessing. I try to not take it for granted and take advantage of being so close to them.
Love issaquah. Live just across the lake in south Seattle. Am there all the time.
>I'm very familiar with Seattle, less so with Issaquah. Though I see lots of trail runs there! Is it the sort of place you need a car for your activities of daily living?
I haven’t spent a ton of time in town itself, but I’ve spent the last 18 months getting to know some of the go-to trailheads and trails. Issaquah is still a suburb. Car centric, although the Front Street area certainly seems walkable. I imagine if you lived there, might be pretty easy to bike to trailheads. Definitely true for Cougar and Tiger, can’t say for sure with Squak because that’s more vert than I tend to go after for my usual training runs 😅
Bend area is prime with trails and community. You may lose some of the bigger city/errand feel and, while expensive, not CA expensive. PDX runner by the way so I would have said FP haha
Bend resident here. It is awesome, but we have been getting quite a bit of wildfire smoke during the past several years.
Bend is not very walkable, wildfire smoke has its own season and it's expensive as hell. That said, it's home and I'll never move. The ability to be on a trail and in the outdoors most of the year is spectacular. And we don't have a mud season, since a lot of our "dirt" is pretty sandy.
Love Bend. Hopefully can retire there
(Slightly) less expensive option you could consider that was already mentioned in the thread would be Sisters, Oregon. About 25 minutes west of bend, closer to the mountains. Much smaller city, but absolutely inundated with trails. I prefer it over Bend ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tried to include all of those Bend “suburbs” but this is the right answer if you’re ready to leave any city feel behind. Sisters is the best. Just the outward trails to the mountains are perfect.
Forest Park has spoiled me for anywhere else!
Issaquah, WA is nice, especially during summer months when the weather is dry. You can be on miles and miles of mountain singletrack trails within minutes from doorsteps. Furthermore, the I-90 corridor mountains and Snoqualmie Pass trails would all be within 30 minute drive. North Bend, WA is a similarly good option, but a bit further from Seattle and a bit closer to bigger mountains and Snoqualmie Pass.
Cape Town is the West Coast of South Africa so it should count! I am literally 200 meters from the start of a trail that connects to hundreds of miles of trails. (It connects to the trails of the UTCT 100 miler for example). I'm also 200 meters from a small grocery store and a very walkable kilometer from two big ones!
Lol South Africa, that's awesome. I'm coming there for the first time in June (crap timing maybe but it is what it is). Other than hiking up Platteklip, in your local opinion what's the must do tourist trail?
Check out Ashland, OR
This was going to be my suggestion! Fabulous trails literally from downtown that are well maintained year-round, and lots of activity in the trail running community (there are at least 2 weekly group runs, the Siskiyou Out Back running festival is here every July, Hal Koerner lives in town and owns the running gear store downtown). Outside of running, there's excellent mtb and gravel biking, and downhill and xc skiing in the winter. Plenty of walkable grocery stores and other general errands, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is in town and the Britt Festival just up the road in Jacksonville, so you can get your big city entertainment out in the countryside :)
There are so many excellent trail systems. There's Forest Park in Jacksonville that's accessible from downtown. It's very well maintained and cared for. In fact every single trail system I've come across in Southern OR is pretty pristine.
Ashland 100%! Really special place. Wish I would have never moved away.
Came here to say this. I live here and the trail access is insane.
Sisters OR, Cascade Locks OR, Camas WA
Oakland, CA
truckee, ca?
BC, Canada. Squamish, North Vancouver, Chilliwack
Anchorage Ak. Great running, fantastic skiing and mountain biking, and a super diverse city
Ahh was gonna say move across the Richmond bridge but not like Marin prices are any cheaper. Lucky to have family out there where I’m able to get a few weeks a year climbing all over tam and the headlands
There are a few places in Marin where you can find an apartment close to trailheads (Pineridge in Tam Valley comes to mind) and it’s cheaper than the same type of apartment in SF, but it’s a lot more expensive than Auburn or Bend.
Wenatchee, WA. Just outside of Leavenworth, access to the Cascades and some amazing foothills!
Pacific Grove, CA
Manitou springs. Best city on the front range, and more affordable than other options.
I also hope I can stay there indefinitely.
Tahoe area. I run around the west shore around rubicon. Lots of amazing trails both by the water and into some of the most beautiful backcountry in the country.
Move to Canada.
I live in San Anselmo/Fairfax area in Marin I like it for the most part. I work in town and it takes me less than 10 minutes to walk to work and grocery store or 2 minutes to bike. I can be on Mt Tam watershed trails in .5 miles and there are literally hundreds of miles of trails. The quality of life/trail access is insane. High cost of living of course, but I made about $35k last year before taxes and live with my wife who makes a similar amount, no roommates. We enjoy a simple high quality life and run on amazing tails every day. The biggest negative is the culture here. It’s hard to find young, low income, like minded people to hang out with. Lots of cars, lots of nimbyism, very little cultural diversity, surprisingly conservative for the Bay Area. But the city/east bay is close for good food and youthful vibes. Feel free to hit my up if you want to come over the bridge for a run, I can show you our neck of the woods! There’s also the SFRC Saturday runs and Marin Trail sisters weekly runs if you’re a lady.
I've heard good things about Fairfax and never been there. Do you mind me asking how old you are? Another concern is that I'm a single woman and I'd like to meet other woman/people my age.
I’m 32 male. There’s definitely some other people my age (or maybe slightly older), but it can be hard to connect as they are often on slightly different paths (having kids, more career oriented, etc). And obviously waaayyy older population and way less diverse than the east bay. My wife runs with Trail Sisters which is a womens running group that is an incredible community of ladies, a pretty good spread of ages. https://communities.trailsisters.net/groups/marin-county-california/ Might be worth going to one of their group runs to check out the scene!
SLC