In the parks and recreation circuit, there's a neat term used to describe most forms of recreation that happen on a trail: activation. When you're out for a hike on the WCT or any trail, you are activating that trail and making it come alive. And hiking is just one way to "activate" the Walking City Trail. While the WCT was designed as a hiking route, plenty of trail visitors have come up with their own creative ways to activate the trail.
RUN THE WCT + COMPETE FOR THE “FKT”
It's not an accident that the Walking City Trail is only one mile longer than the Boston Marathon route. We designed this trail knowing that a 27 mile journey across Boston would intrigue runners, and the WCT's highly-varied environments and abundant greenery make it an inviting space for running. You can run it in pieces OR compete for the "Fastest Known Time" for running the trail in a single day. The current title holders, Julia Howard and Rosie Hale, ran the entire WCT in 4 hours and 43 minutes on October 14, 2023. If you think you can run the trail even faster, fire up Strava, and drop us a line after you recover.
PLAN A “BIKE AND HIKE” ON THE WCT
The City of Boston is expanding its bike lanes, and with over 400 Bluebikes stations offering rental bikes around the city, you can combine biking and hiking into a hybrid urban adventure. Hop onto a bike, pedal away, dock it, and then step onto the trail. Our Google Map of the WCT includes an overlay to show Bluebike stations close to the trail. While it's not possible to bike the complete WCT route due to varied terrain and park rules, an alternative, 100% bike-able route could, in theory, be designed by cyclists. If you're interested, please get in touch with us.
DISCOVER THE BIRDS OF THE WCT
Becky Matsubara CC BY 2.0
The Walking City Trail's 30+ city green spaces are bountiful environments for birding throughout the year. From the Sherrin Woods Urban Wild to "The Wilderness" zone of Franklin Park and the wooded corridors of The Riverway, Boston offers plenty of opportunities for binocular toggling and the WCT makes it easier visit several of these bird-friendly environments in one morning or afternoon. Keep an eye out for upcoming public trail events involving birding (including a possible regional survey!) in 2024.
We're always interested to hear how Walking City Trail visitors are activating the trail. Please contact us if you have an idea for trail activation that you would like to share!