Nathaniel Jones Park is a small park in Mountain’s Edge in southwest Las Vegas. It’s main attraction is the dog park on the western edge. The dog play area is gated, so even if you’re afraid of dogs, you’ll be safe. The park also offers a playground, picnic areas, and a cross-shaped basketball court.
The park itself is too small to be an interesting stand-alone running route. Fortunately, it’s almost directly attached to the La Baron Paseo trail, a paved wash created for flood control and upgraded to provide easy access to safe green spaces for residents. This paseo specifically is really well-done, with most underpasses being high enough to run through. That’s probably because the trail lies directly north of an elementary school and provides safe passage to kids heading home. The underpasses allow students (and us runners) to avoid busy intersections.
5K Walking or Running Route starting at Nathaniel Jones Park
Start at the parking lot of Nathaniel Jones Park. Head west and then north, running between the basketball court and the dog park. Continue north at the edge of the park to (currently) some construction sawhorses (photo 2 in the gallery to the right). The entrance to the La Baron Paseo is just to your right.
Run the paseo as far as you like! There are slight curves in the path for aesthetic purposes. Fortunately, that also adds a tiny bit of mileage as well. The trail goes just under a mile and a half if you go all the way to Buffalo.
The last underpass, the one that goes under Buffalo, is lower than the others, probably about 5 feet high. I had to duck to get through it, so not recommended for anyone over 5’5″ tall. Turn around before the underpass.
Run the mile and change back to the park, and then add a loop or partial loop to finish off your 3.1 miles. Nice and easy!
Park-to-Park Route
If you’re going longer distances, head up to street level at Buffalo. Head north on Buffalo just a smidge to access Exploration Peak Park. Adding the park and the peak can extend your run 2-3 miles, getting you to 10k. If that’s not enough, add in the detour to Mountain’s Edge Regional Park and its trail as well. The planners did a good job with this park and trail for running in southwest Vegas.