A big new trail in Little Rhody

Providence joins the Instant Urban Trails movement!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a feature for Outside about the rise of Instant Urban Trails; beautiful urban hiking routes created by curating walkable spaces, such as park paths and interesting streets, with free trail maps and directions available on a dedicated website. One of the earliest examples of an Instant Urban Trail is Worcester’s 14-mile East West Trail, which runs across the city’s bounteous parks ecosystem from Lake Quinsigamond to The Cascades. But the San Francisco Crosstown Trail—a 17-mile trail from Candlestick Point to Lands End—was the trail that really put Instant Urban Trails on the map for most of us who know about them. Reading a story about the Crosstown Trail in National Geographic in 2022 was all it took for me to get myself out to the Bay Area to hike the trail. And hiking the Crosstown Trail over the course of a weekend was all it took for me to found the 27-mile Walking City Trail in Boston.

About a month after the launch of the “WCT” (as we’ve come to call it), I was up in the White Mountains camping near Crawford Notch when I received a phone call from an unrecognized number with a San Francisco area code. It was Bob Siegel, one of the architects of the Crosstown Trail, and he was calling to express his delight that I had basically copied their templates for the Walking City Trail trail website, directions, and maps. “There’s a guy up in Seattle, who might be launching something like this too,” Bob said at one point, referring to Peter Hendrickson—who would later co-found the Olmsted 50 and 70 Trails. “So I’m gonna go up there and have coffee with him,” Bob continued. “To see what he’s been thinking. I’m going to try and convince him to do it.”

I understood, in that moment, that Bob sensed the crackling of a potential movement. He was identifying the early instigators and their projects. By 2024, with more Instant Urban Trails having popped up in Denver, Sacramento, and San Francisco, a group of us began having Zoom conversations, comparing notes on our respective urban trails and mulling the possibility of building some kind of an Instant Urban Trails alliance in a more formal way. (If anyone reading this feels like cutting a big check to support this idea, freel free to shoot me an email.) One of the best outcomes of these Zoom calls was getting into a habit of constantly looking for ways to amplify each other’s work. Persuading Outside to greenlight a feature about Instant Urban Trails felt like a major coup. And as I was editing the article, I got another exciting message from Bob; that as of September 2024, Providence had joined the Instant Urban Trails movement.

One of the coolest things about Instant Urban Trails is that they can be put together in just a few months, and when I got the rundown on the Providence Crosstown Trail, it reminded me of that scenario when you’re blindsided by a seriously interesting movie with a stacked cast suddenly appearing on the festival circuit. (The Brutalist recently snuck up on me like this.) Started by Providence hiker Justin Boyan, with help from a seasoned crew of ramblers, the Providence Crosstown Trail is a 13-mile west to east journey from the woods of Neutaconkanut Hill to the Field’s Point lookout deck on the city’s south waterfront. The trail visits a smorgasbord of urban green spaces scattered across 11 neighborhoods, including Downtown Providence, and the website includes maps for AllTrails, Strava, and Garmin Connect—in addition to turn-by-turn directions.

Ecstatic from the news, I was able to squeeze the Providence Crosstown Trail into the Outside story at the last minute. But what I was most amped for was actually taking the Boston commuter rail south, across the Little Rhody state line, and experiencing America’s latest Instant Urban Trail (that I know of.) Because, as some of you know, I’m extremely fond of Providence and Little Rhody in general. I love the local appetite for good food, weird art, and rustic beauty of the organic and built varieties. In fact, I took something of an improvised hike across Providence last year, covering the hike for the newsletter, and as I recuperated from the hike by sitting on a green at Brown University, lowering pizza slices into my mouth like a sword swallower, I thought to myself, “Man, a big trail across Providence could hit some really beautiful territory!”

Justin’s hard work and success in bringing the Providence Crosstown Trail to life felt like a prayer being answered—and an affirmation that as far as Instant Urban Trails are concerned, the genie has left the bottle. Last week, I studied the trail maps, noting the PVD green spaces that I was familiar with, like Neutaconkanut Hill and the Providence River Walk, and the parts of the map that were question marks. And on a Tuesday that was unusually unencumbered with busywork—one of those recent, freakish days that paired peak fall foliage with upper 70s temperatures—I skipped town with a daypack full of white cheddar popcorn, sunblock, and extra socks, to hike the trail in one day.

Neutaconkanut Hill, a wooded high point that was once used as an informal garbage dump before being successfully rehabbed, is a natural starting point for a trail across Providence. From the playgrounds at the bottom of the hill, I fired up the AllTrails map and made my way up stone stairs covered in orange leaves, heading for the lookout at the hilltop. The vista of Downtown Providence and the rivers that converge there was outstanding, thanks to the retreat of the hilltop canopy. But there were other things on Neutaconkanut Hill which had visibly improved since my last visit. The trail map sign at the hilltop was no longer a weathered old thing riddled with what looked like bullet holes. It was fresh, gleaming, and actually readable. When I returned to the foot of the hill via stairs that were created by the Works Progress Administration, the fields and playgrounds were alive with the sound of kids laughing. Multiple school groups were utilizing old Neauaconkanut Hill as a gathering space. It was a sweet sight to witness.

Three years had passed since my last visit to the hill, and as I made my way north to the Woonasquatucket River Greenway—by way of quiet residential streets aglow with crimson foliage—I reflected on how mainstream outdoor exploration has become in such a short time period. Not so much in the sense that more people are getting into hiking (that’s been accelerating since the early 2010s) but in the way that the city has become part of our conception of what qualifies as “the outdoors.” This is a far more recent development, and you see it in the expanding groups of park users, the upkeep and renovation of park infrastructure, and in grassroots projects like the Providence Crosstown Trail. You can also see this perceptive reset in public artwork such as the paintings on the walls that appear along the Woonasquatucket Greenway. I saw fish, foxes, and butterflies brought to life on these walls, as I followed the namesake river northwest, just a few clicks away from the parallel, automotive thrum of U.S. Route 6.

I mentioned that the Providence Crosstown Trail is basically a west to east adventure. But most Instant Urban Trails don’t come in straight line formations and here, before you go east, you have to go north first. This segment of the hike took me into a less familiar part of the city; a suburbanized neighborhood called Mount Pleasant, which does indeed rest atop a very large hill. I climbed a series of residential streets that offered a bumper crop of fall foliage, but not much in the way of parks, oddities, or views. Part of the fun of hiking an Instant Urban Trail for the first time is imagining what exactly the trail builders were thinking when they routed the trail through each part of the city. Often, the intention is obvious. But sometimes it reveals itself slowly.

The vibe of this particular corner of Mount Pleasant wasn’t the most welcoming. One house had a sign out front which featured an image of a handgun and the following inscription: “WE DON’T CALL 911. THIS PROPERTY IS PROTECTED BY THE SECOND AMENDMENT.” As I hiked past another house two blocks from here, I heard barking from behind a tall wooden fence, from a really big dog that sounded as hefty as a Shetland Pony. And then, just as I was beginning to wonder, “Why does the trail run through this part of town?” an answer materialized. I stepped into the Pleasant Valley Parkway, a linear green space sandwiched between two streets, with towering shade trees, a ragged footpath, and a central stream with ducks, which doubles as a storm drainage system. The Pleasant Valley Parkway is a stellar example of what you can do with a limited amount of space in a city. For the next 20 minutes, I followed the stream through Mount Pleasant, eventually arriving at its terminus by the ballfields of Davis Park. And looking southeast through the trees, I could see Downtown waiting.

Retracing familiar old steps through a grittier and more industrialized part of town, I walked along the Woonasquatucket River once again, ascending the stairs beneath the Providence Place Mall and arriving at the overlook by Waterplace Park, where the torchbearing boats of the city’s Waterfire Festival gather each summer. It was around 2:00 PM by now and having already made the physiological transition from summer to fall/winter mode, I was feeling tired from the sun and unusually high temperatures. And I still had some serious distance to cover, between Waterplace Park and Field’s Point: not just the River Walk, but also the expanse of Prairie Aveue and the paths of Roger Williams Park, on the south side of town. There was zero chance of making it to the watefront finish line before sunset, unless I power walked and skipped lunch.

Whenever you find yourself considering such a desperate change of plans on an urban hike, you know it’s time to call it a day and save the next leg for another time. So that’s what I did, vowing to return to Providence after the leaves had fallen—when the unique sadness of Stick Season is setting in—and finish the Providence Crosstown Trail then. With time to spare, I veered into the heart of the city, ponied up $12 for a voluminous chicken and falafel wrap from Livi’s Pockets, and I tried to imagine how delectable all of this would taste in a just few weeks, through the melancholic haze of a shoulder season that New England’s cities still haven’t figured out how to make the most of.

Perhaps Instant Urban Trails and all their wonders could be a part of the answer.

The Providence Crosstown Trail
Distance: 13.4 miles
Elevation gain: 568 feet
CLICK HERE for the trail website and maps

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While we’re on the subject of new trails of generous size, those of you who’ve thought of moving to….I mean, visiting Sweden in the immediate future may want to bring your hiking boots. Because this fall, the Stockholm Archipelago Trail opens to the public. A 167-mile journey across the popular, gorgeously rustic islands of Sweden’s biggest metro region, the Stockholm Archipelago Trail mixes land and sea in dreamy fashion. You hike across your first island until reaching a dock, where you hop into a rowboat and paddle your way to the next island, where you pick up the trail again. I may have to expand the focus of Mind The Moss beyond New England. This thing is burning a hole in my wallet and in my editorial calendar. If you make it there, please get in touch!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, you might also consider the perspective of Ben Lerwill, who has a really nice piece in The Guardian about the joy of exploring the less superlative walking paths that spiderweb across the U.K. He recounts his ramble on the Baker Way, a 13-mile footpath that begins in the city of Chester and disappears into the surrounding countryside. There are no jaw-dropping landmarks or monuments along the route, but there’s a thriving universe of colors, sounds, smells, and stillness. Reading Lerwill’s essay reminded me of several trails we’ve visited in Mind The Moss.