In the parks and recreation circuit, there's a neat term used to describe many forms of recreation that take place on a trail: activation. When you're out for a hike on the Walking City Trails or any public trail, in any environment, you are activating that trail and making it come alive. And going for a hike is just one way to "activate" the Walking City Trails. While these trails were designed as walking routes, plenty of trail visitors have come up with their own creative ways to activate the trails.
RUN THE TRAILS AND COMPETE FOR AN “FKT”
It's not coincidence that the Walking City Trail is only one mile longer than the Boston Marathon route. We designed that first trail knowing that a 27-mile journey across Boston would likely intrigue runners, and that the WCT's diverse 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.
The City On The Hills Trail, on the other hand, currently has no Fastest Known Time—being the newest and youngest of the Walking City Trails. So if you run the whole thing, let us know how long it took you!
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 Walking City Trails includes an overlay to show Bluebike stations close to the trails. While it's not possible to bike the whole WCT network due to varied terrain and park rules, an alternative, 100% bike-able route could, in theory, be designed by cyclists. If you’d like to do this, please get in touch!
DISCOVER THE BIRDS OF THE WCT
Becky Matsubara CC BY 2.0
The Walking City Trails’ 75+ city green spaces are bountiful environments for birding throughout the year. From the Sherrin Woods Urban Wild to the shores of Pleasure Bay and the wooded gardens up on Mission Hill and Fort Hill, Boston offers plenty of opportunities for prolonged binocular toggling and the WCT network makes it easier visit several of these bird-friendly urban environments in one morning or afternoon. If you’re leading a public WCT birding event, let us know so that we can amplify it.
We're always interested to hear how Walking City Trail visitors are activating the trail. Please contact us if you have any ideas for trail activation that you want to share.
