Directions + Maps — Walking City Trail (2024)

The Walking City Trail belongs to a new and growing genre of urban trails in which the “trail blazing” and mapping are done digitally. On this page, you’ll find all the resources you need to go for an exhilarating hike on the WCT, from maps to written directions to public transit connections! There are also physical trail signs installed along the Walking City Trail in locations that see high levels of pedestrian activity.

THE ALLTRAILS APP

To hike the Walking City Trail with the assistance of GPS, you can download the AllTrails app onto your phone by clicking here. Once you've fired up the app, you can find maps for each trail segment by searching for “Walking City Trail.” You can also click any of the map links below and the map should open in the app. With the paid version of AllTrails, you can download the maps and use them with your phone in airplane mode. You can also download a GPX map of the Walking City Trail by clicking here. You can then upload it to another app like Gaia GPS or Strava.

GOOGLE MAPS

If Google Maps is already your go-to navigation app, good news. The Walking City Trail is fully mapped in Google Maps, with optional overlays showing green spaces, public transit stops, public restrooms, and Bluebikes stations! The green waypoints the four sectional trailheads and the halfway points of each section. Just bear in mind that only a fraction of the interconnected paths in Boston’s parks and urban wilds will show up on Google Maps. (Most of them do show up on AllTrails.) To avoid confusion at junctions, you can refer to the written turn-by-turn trail directions listed further below. They pair nicely with AllTrails maps too.

Our Google Map of the WCT also includes an optional layer for sections of the trail that are bike-able. You'll see the green trail line overlaid with smaller red lines. Each red line indicates sections that can be biked. Please read the Biking the Walking City Trailsection below to learn more about biking the trail.

PRINTABLE MAPS

If you prefer to limit your screen time on the trail, you can use these four sectional Walking City Trail maps for your hike. Each printable trail section map is 3-4 pages in length, to allow for a closer look at the trail. You'll also see three numerical waypoints on each map. "1" indicates the section trailhead, "2" marks the midpoint of the trail section, and "3" is the trail section finish line.We highly recommend using these maps with the written turn-by-turn directions listed below!

WRITTEN TRAIL DIRECTIONS

Maps are an important navigational tool, but sometimes it's nice to have the assurance of a secondary source: especially in an urban environment that's loaded with junctions. These turn-by-turn trail directions for each section of the Walking City Trail work best when paired with a map of the trail section you're hiking. You can print them out or view them in your phone's browser. These directions contain detailed information about public transit stops on each section of the trail, with links.

TRAIL CONDITIONS

The Walking City Trail is 27.4 miles long with around 1,000 feet of vertical elevation gain from start to finish. The trail surfaces include sidewalks, dirt paths, gravel paths, rocky and rooty paths, stairs, boardwalks, and bridges. While trail difficulty and ease are subjective, Section 2 from Roslindale Village to Jamaica Pond is the hilliest segment of the WCT, and Section 4 from Esplanade Park to Bunker Hill Monument offers the most consistently level hiking terrain.

Some parts of the trail can become muddy or even partially flooded after heavy rain. So be sure to keep an eye on the weather forecast when you're preparing for your hike. If you run into any natural hazards on the trail like flooding or poison ivy, please drop us a line so that we can post an alert on the website!

WHAT TO PACK FOR YOUR HIKE

One of the most significant experiential perks of taking a hike through a city is that you don't need to pack as much gear for your hike as you would in the backcountry, and the gear that you should bring won't cost as much as mountain-ready gear. Usually this means that you'll be hiking with a lighter pack. And if you do happen to leave something behind, chances are you can find it in a store on the trail. That said, an urban hike on the Walking City Trail will be much more enjoyable if you pack the following items for your hike...

​- Comfortable walking shoes and thick socks
- An extra pair of socks, just in case
- Sunblock and a season-appropriate hat
- At least 1 liter of drinking water
- Trekking pole(s) for added stability on sloped surfaces
- 3 upper body layers, such as a t-shirt, a fleece, and a rain jacket
- Bandages, antibiotic ointment (for scrapes) and/or blister tape
- A headlamp or flashlight, if you're hiking into the evening
- A portable phone battery/charger, if you plan to navigate with your phone

PUBLIC TRANSIT CONNECTIONS

You can reach each section of the Walking City Trail by using the MBTA transit system. Skip the headache of finding parking and enduring Boston traffic! Below you'll find transit connections to each section trailhead, and in the written directions for each section, there are additional transit connections listed for the "halfway" point near the middle of each trail segment. In other places, you might have to take an off-trail detour of anywhere between 0.2-1 mile to reach the closest public transit stop.

BIKING THE WALKING CITY TRAIL

We're often asked if the Walking City Trail is bike-able and the answer is...sort of. The trail was designed as a walking route first and foremost. There are parts that can also be biked, but the key thing to know before pedaling off is that "can be biked" is not the same as "awesome to bike." In theory, a fully bike-able alternate route designed for maximum cycling pleasure CAN be designed in the future, if any cyclists want to take on the task of scouting and mapping such a route. We'll gladly help, however we can!

But for now, the easiest way to bike pieces of the Walking City Trail is to use the Google Map of thetrail and select the optional layer for "bikeable trail sections" from the list of map layers. The red segments of the baseline green trail route can be biked. But keep in mind, some will contain brief elements like stairs where you will have to dismount and walk your bike. The portions of the trail route that remain green should not be biked, due to dangerous terrrain and/or park rules that do not allow for biking.