Tuesday Trails, Routes, and Races: Fullerton Courthouse to Laguna Lake

​For today's edition of Tuesday Trails, Routes, and Races I wanted to write about a run I used to do with my eldest son back when he was in high school. He ran for Troy High school and I helped coach that team for a few years in the summer months. Locally Fullerton has some of the very best trails all over the city. This is just one of them but you can explore many variations for this or other trails in the area. Even if you do not live very close its worth a short drive to run in this area.

the trail itself starts right off of Harbor Blvd in Fullerton next to the Fullerton Courthouse. You can park right inside the courthouse parking lot. This route is a 5.43 out and back route with a small loop at the turnaround goign around Laguna Lake. You beginning heading north on the mostly dirt trail with area that have wood chip mulch on the trail. For those of you used to running on cement everyday this will be a welcomed change with a very soft surface to run. Note you can run along the main wider trail or along a parallel path just a few feet to the right which is much more narrow and rough but even more scenic. Both will take you along the same trail just a matter of preference during the first mile. As you approach Bastanchury Rd. there is a sharp downhill of just a few meters but please be careful as I've seen a couple runners take a spill on it. And of course on the way back you will find that little hill a good little push. After crossing Bastanchury Rd you will run along a sidewalk for just about 1/4 mile then jump back on to the trail . There is a point where you can veer to the right and follow an old train track. That is also a great run but for now keep going straight on this trail. A mile further down the trail you will reach the Laguna Lake area and will have to come off this trail and cross a small residential when you see it on the left side.

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Now enter the Lake area and you can run on either the left side or the right side as you prefer. This is a beautiful area so take in the view and enjoy a small loop around the lake before you head back the way you came. Keep in mind you can run through the lake area and past it to make the run longer if you prefer then double back or even loop around on Euclid to a small trail that take you back to the main trail but I'll leave that for you to explore on your own. For now head back around the lake on either side and back heading south on the trail. One thing I forgot to mention is about 1 mile from the start finish of this run there is a drinking fountain and another fork where you can go left and explore another part of the trail.  I hope you enjoy this trail and many others in this area. As always best of luck with your running and let us know what you think of this one or others you want us to cover here.  

​Link to this route Map

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