Trolley Trail Hike

The Fairmount Park Conservancy is leading a guided hike on the Trolley Trail on Sunday, November 15, from 10 AM to 1 PM. It starts at the Trolley Trail entrance on Chamounix Drive, in the parking lot across from Ridgeland Mansion in Philadelphia.

The trail follows the path of the old Fairmount Park Trolley, which ran through East and West Fairmount Park from 1896 to 1946. For half a century, it was the main way visitors got around the park's various attractions. The Conservancy, working with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Belmont Plateau Trails Alliance, has been turning that old route into the Trolley Trail—a scenic, multi-purpose path with new gateways, trail signage, and bike racks. The whole thing was officially inaugurated with a ribbon-cutting in November 2023.

This hike is part of the Conservancy's year-round programming across Philadelphia's 10,000 acres of parkland. Autumn is their busiest season, and as part of it, they run a series of guided hikes in West Fairmount Park on the second Saturday of each month, led by a rotating group of knowledgeable instructors. This one is a Sunday morning, though, and it'll take you along the same stretch of trail that the old trolley once covered.

The hike runs from 10 AM to 1 PM, so it's a good three-hour stretch through the park. It costs $10 to join.