This page lists transit to trails resources from around the U.S. and Canada. It’s intended as a place to quickly find transit-accessible outdoor trips around North America — and it is far from exhaustive.

Check back often; I’ll be building out this page, adding resources as I find them. Know a resource that belongs here? Get in touch.

And if you haven’t signed up to get notified when The Transit Trekker Manual: Washington State is available, do it now.

Last updated March 24, 2023 to add additional resources for the New York & New Jersey area, Oregon, and Seattle.

California — Bay Area

Bay Nature produced a lovely and practical Transit to Trails map over a decade ago. You can download as a PDF from the aforementioned link or purchase for a very modest $6.00 — which I encourage you to do because it’s an excellent, well-designed resource and will signal to Bay to Nature current interest in transit access to the outdoors. I’m sure some of the schedules and routes have changed since the map was produced in 2009, but even now it should be a helpful resource. It includes some short narratives about trips to featured trails.

See also the SF Crosstown Trail, which includes a helpful list of connecting trails.

California — Los Angeles

I just (in March 2023) discovered L.A. Transit to Trails and it’s what prompted me to finally create this resource page. I haven’t dug in to it, but I like what I’ve seen so far. Absolutely be sure to check out the related organization, Nature for All.

California — San Diego County (paywall)

A March 2023 article in the San Diego Union Tribune titled “11 hiking trails near public transit stops across San Diego County.” I haven’t been able to get past the paywall, but this is my hometown, so onto this list it goes. Check your public library’s online resources, which may allow you to bypass the paywall.

Illinois — Chicago

An entire guide book devoted to transit hikes you can do in the Chicago region. It’s an excellent value, so add it to your outdoors or transit library. Lindsay Welbers, the author, also blogs about her trips.

Northeastern U.S. — Boston

Hike 27 miles in Boston on the Walking City Trail. In my experience, urban hiking is underrated. And it’s great way to demonstrate how easy it can be for transit to take you to greenspace.

Northeastern U.S. — New Jersey & New York

Cap’n Transit has been keeping a spreadsheet of transit-accessible trailheads with the essential info you need for the New Jersey and New York City regions.

The New York – New Jersey Trail Conference has tips for transit hiking and links to a searchable (!) database to find transit-accessible trails in the area.

See also the newish NJ Transit Transit to Trails page.

Oregon

Bike Portland’s post “Get around Oregon without a car with this handy transit guide” shares info from TriMet.

TriMet’s blog post on traveling around Oregon via transit is here.

Travel Oregon includes a section on car-free trip ideas on its site.

Washington — Seattle/King County

King County Parks offers this Trailfinder tool that lets you add layers for transit lines and bus stops to quickly find which routes go near trails all over the county.

Seattle Transit Hikers is a public meetup group that uses transit to hike mostly urban trails in the King County area, with occasional trips beyond.

Washington — Tacoma/Pierce County

Pierce Transit has a helpful map to find mostly urban trails in its Tacoma and Pierce County service area.

Pierce Trips created a table of car-free recreation destinations in Pierce County.