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Help us activate and blaze Boston's Walking City Trails
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$7,425 raised of $4K
56 donations
Hi there. I'm Miles Howard, founder and lead organizer of Boston's Walking City Trails. Since 2022, the WCT crew has created 149 miles of urban trails showcasing Greater Boston's green spaces, neighborhoods, and the hidden walkable connections between them. Now, as we triple down on activating these trails and putting them on more maps (local and afar), we need your help with a sequence of special projects for late 2026 and beyond!
As of this fall, the Walking City Trails have reached trilogy status: there's the 27-mile Walking City Trail from Mattapan to Bunker Hill that started the network, the 32-mile City On The Hills Trail from West Roxbury to Castle Island that raised the stakes, and now, we have the 90.9-mile Boston Boundless Trail that runs through green spaces in every city and town bordering Boston! Through grassroots initiatives such as guided community hikes, engagement with local and national media, and homemade signs posted along the original trail, the Walking City Trails have never been more active than they are today. Now, we intend to take this momentum and saunter forward with the following initiatives:
- Expanding our earn-a-patch program to all Walking City Trails: Since we started sending a free trail logo patch to anyone who reports finishing the Walking City Trail (in as many or little segments as they prefer), over 100 people have hiked the entire trail! Now it's time to expand this trail activation program to the City On The Hills Trail and the Boston Boundless Trail, to get more people outside and embarking on new adventures, at their speed and scale of choice.
- Starting our first trailside business coalition: All three of the Walking City Trails run right past hundreds of local businesses that pair perfectly with a hike. (Mid-trail arepas, anyone?) And in 2027, we're going start building a WCT alliance with businesses that are game to display trail signs and additional trail promo materials onsite; allowing more people to discover the presence and massive extent of the Walking City Trails.
- Installing new trail markers on all three Walking City Trails: Two summers of putting DIY signs on the Walking City Trail was an invaluable lesson in learning what works best for marking an urban trail and making it more visible. So in the months ahead, we will be installing newly designed trail markers on all three of the Walking City Trails; information portals that lead to all of the free trail maps and directions.
Between new materials production and labor costs, the expense of these projects is estimated to be around $4,000. If we can hit this goal, we will be in the clear. If we surpass it, any additional contributions will be set aside to help cover special projects for future years. With your generous support, even more Boston residents and visitors can enjoy their first literal brush with the cityscape on Boston's Walking City Trails in the years to come.
Here’s the timeline for how we plan to implement these projects:
- The earn-a-patch program will be expanded to all three trails by early November.
- Small business engagement will begin in November and run through the winter.
- Trail signage installation will kick off in spring of 2027, before the leaves return, and there will be volunteer opportunities on this front.
To learn more about the Walking City Trails, check out the official trail website, BostonTrails.org. To be among the first to find out about new trail events, including community hikes, you can sign up for our free newsletter here. And if you're active on Instagram, you can also learn about trail news there, by following @WalkingCityTrail.
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