Urban Trails

Project Description

Trails are connections. But who—and what—they connect can surprise you.

A trail, at its most basic, is a route from an origin to a destination.

But every trail has a different set of stories to tell…

They tell us who created them, why they were created, where they began and why people wanted to move from one place to another. Their connections aren’t always geographic, either. A trail can connect events across time. It can connect cultures. It can connect infrastructure with nature. And sometimes, it can connect a community with an entirely different future.

In this article, we’re exploring six trails in six very different urban areas that connect to their natural settings and cultural histories.

Along the way, we will find the cool places linked by these trails.

See if you can figure out where each one is before you reach the end.

Then go experience the cool places they connect.

How can nature reclaim infrastructure and create a new kind of connection? Read how this trail answers the question.

Can you figure out which trail this is? Keep reading—the answer is at the end.

Rooftop urban park with trees, pathways and seating nestled between two reflective glass skyscrapers.

Rugged river rapids cascading through rocky channels with tree-lined banks under a blue sky.

Rugged river gorge with several narrow waterfalls cascading over dark gray boulders.

To find this trail, start at the U.S. Capital and drive for about 45 minutes (or take the Metro Silver Line to Spring Hill station, then bike or rideshare). You will still be in the midst of a major metropolitan area. But you will be at a location with a history that extends back over 700 million years.

The Great Falls on the Potomac River are found where the hard, Precambrian rock of the Piedmont Plateau (about 730 million years old) meets softer and much younger rock of the Coastal Plain. The river cut these falls during the last Ice Age about 2 million years ago, when sea level fell nearly 500 feet as water from the oceans was frozen into giant ice sheets. These falls drop about 75 feet in roughly 2/3 of a mile. While not as massive as falls in other parts of the world, they are impressive for the ever-changing cascades and seasonal variety. It’s hard to believe that a place this wild is surrounded by the urban fabric of the region.

Stone retaining wall and shallow creek framed by dense green foliage along an urban trail.

Shady creek winding through a green, tree-lined urban trail.

Northern Waterthrush perched on a shaded branch amid bright green leaves.

For Indigenous peoples, this was a place for ceremonies to honor the spirit of the “Roaring Waters.” Trade and transport have long been part of the story as well, both for Indigenous peoples and the Europeans who began arriving in the early 1600’s.

The site also shows the connection of political leadership and commerce in the expansion of the early United States. Boats could not traverse these falls. Beginning as a young surveyor, a future U.S. leader imagined a canal to allow travel around them. He became the President of the canal company in 1784 and led the construction of canals, locks and dams that allowed river boats to transport goods from the Appalachian valleys of Virginia to the cities and towns of Maryland and the coast. While canals were later overtaken by railroads as the preferred method for shipments, they played an important initial role in connecting commerce from the frontier to the eastern Seaboard and from there to international markets.

Check out the water pouring over these falls and the wildlife in the middle of a major metropolitan area.

Today’s series of parks and trails along the Potomac have replaced the transportation and industrial activity of the 1800’s with a restored natural corridor providing a habitat for nature and recreation to nearly a half million visitors per year.

Did you guess the trail? Click for the answer.

This is the Patowmack Canal Trail.

Location: Great Falls National Park, Washington, D.C.

The Patowmack Canal Trail connects geologic history, indigenous history, early American commerce, and today’s natural corridor.

Can a trail change property values? Read how this trail made a difference.

Do you know which trail this is? Keep reading—the answer is at the end.

Leafless trees and a hanging bird feeder beside a sandy urban trail by an apartment building and behind a wooden fence.

Overgrown and forgotten.

Disconnected.

A right-of-way.

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway (MKT) was incorporated in May 1870 in Junction City, Kansas. Among its lines was one that reached a major Texas city in 1886. This line connected the city to a transportation and trading network stretching to Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Kansas City and St. Louis. It became known by a nickname that would later be associated with the trail.

After highways replaced rail as the dominant cargo carrier, many of these lines were abandoned. The abandoned right-of-way in Missouri became one of the first “rails-to-trails” conversions in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

When Strategic Community Solutions LLC became involved in planning in the area, there was discussion about using the abandoned tracks for a similar trail. Having experienced the success of the rails-to-trails conversion in Missouri, we championed the idea.

But there were different dynamics at work. In the community, most of the people along the route strongly opposed the idea. Residents of apartments that backed up to the right-of-way worried that a trail would lead to break-ins and crime. Commercial and residential property owners believed the trail would reduce their property values. Within the City’s organization, there were concerns too. Would this be a route for people to travel (on foot or by bike) to work? If so, it should be managed by the Transportation Department. Or was it just for families to enjoy on the weekends? In that case, the Parks Department should be in control.

Reimagined.

A new connection.

A community asset.

Luckily, community leaders and action found a way through the concern and confusion. Thanks in large part to a visionary architect, Philip Henderson FAIA, the Friends of the trail was created in 1997. With this non-profit leading private fund-raising and operations, the initial stretch of the trail was opened in 2000. The trail is operated as a City park and the Friends continue to provide operational and fund-raising support.

Today, the worries about declining real estate values and crime are laughable. Marketing for residential units trumpets their proximity to the trail and adjacent properties often have pedestrian gates for quick access. The route includes some of the most intensive and valuable mixed use developments in the city. It anchors more recent visions for much larger trail networks throughout the city and the region.

Among the many cool places and experiences along the trail, enjoy food and drink at the Katy Trail Ice House, 3127 Routh St, Dallas, TX 75201.

If a sustainable community provides access to nature and healthy exercise close to home, this trail has been a huge boon to a part of Dallas where few other open spaces existed. There are about 4 million visitors to the trail annually. The Trust for Public Land estimates that almost 44,000 people live within a 10-minute walk of the trail.

Sustainability can also mean that a developed community remains thriving, desirable and vital over time. Before this trail opened, much of the surrounding area was characterized by aging commercial and apartment uses. The changes in real estate values and community perception since the trail opened make it clear that this part of Dallas has enhanced its appeal over the past two decades. This trail has been instrumental in this transformation, which helps keep a critical central part of the North Texas urban region thriving and sustainable.