The BRRAlliance is pleased to announce that the 2025 Urban Treks Challenge is now live! For those new to the challenge, Urban Treks is Buffalo’s biggest city hiking challenge. Every year, a theme is selected for the challenge and a number of urban hiking routes are created based upon the year’s theme.

This year’s theme is Monuments, Markers, and Murals and our Treks were designed to focus on areas of the city with large amounts of monuments and historical markers, as well as murals and other urban art.

We are so thrilled to bring this challenge to you again this year. The people of Buffalo work hard to make our city into a canvas of beautiful art, and it’s our hope that you’ll enjoy the way they transform Buffalo into a living art gallery!

The BRRAlliance would like to thank all our supporters for helping bring this year’s challenge to you, including BWELL who helped us plot our trek routes, and Outside Chronicles, whose help makes this challenge possible.

Scan or click on the QR code below to sign up for this year’s challenge or follow this link. We’ll see you on the urban trail!

2025 Treks:

• Allentown – 1.5 Miles: Take a trek around the historic Allentown neighborhood, beginning and ending at Trinity Church.
• Black Rock – 4 Miles: Come check out the undiscovered historic gem that is Black Rock in this trek beginning and ending at Tow Path Park.
• Delaware Park – 2.7 Miles: Could we do an Urban Trek without Delaware Park?  This trek covers the main loop along with a brief jaunt outside of the park along Tillinghast Place to check out one of the lesser-known Frank Lloyd Wright home designs.
• Downtown – 4.3 Miles: Downtown buffalo is LOADED with art and historic sites.  Take this trek that goes up to the Theater District and down to the Cobblestone District and see them for yourself.
• Ellicott Murals – 1.4 Miles: The second of our Downtown treks focuses on a loop around Ellicott St. and Main St. and the amazing murals you can find there.
• Elmwood Village Murals – 3.6 Miles: Take a stroll along beautiful Chapin Parkway and check out some of the murals south of Forest Lawn cemetery on this Trek!
• First Ward – 4.3 Miles: Enjoy the Buffalo waterfront on this history-loaded trek.
• Five Points – 2.7 Miles: Enjoy the sweet treats and amazing art in the beautiful Five Points neighborhood.
• Front Park – 2.5 Miles: The Lower West Side has beautiful parks, historical sites, and some great food!  Come check it out on this trek!
• Hertel Murals – 2.5 Miles:  Hertel Avenue is one THE hot spots for wall art in Buffalo.  Take a long walk along Hertel on this trek and check it out.
• Park Meadow – 2.8 Miles: Our second Delaware Park trek is a serene walk around the Park Meadow and the north shores of Hoyt Lake and Mirror Lake.
• South Park – 1.6 Miles: This short trek is a walk around the history-laden Union Canal.
• Buffalo Waterfront – 1.2 Miles: Enjoy the naval park and  take a photo with Shark Girl on this trek!
• West Side Richmond Murals – 2.8 Miles: Trek around this up-and-coming part of the city and enjoy the view of the Richardson-Olmsted campus along with way residents are investing in the Grant St. neighborhood through art.

Started in 2022, the Urban Treks Challenge was envisioned by the BRRAlliance and Outside Chronicles as a way to highlight the presence of the natural world in urban environments, as well as to highlight the ways in which residents of the City of Buffalo can experience nature without having to leave the city they call home.

In 2022 the inaugural Urban Treks Challenge introduced a series of “treks”, urban walks of varying distances selected by the BRRAlliance and Mike Radomski of Outside Chronicles to help introduce participants to areas of Buffalo where they could experience nature without leaving the city.  The goal of these treks was not only to get participants outside where they could experience nature without having to travel outside of Buffalo, it also had the goal of introducing participants to areas in Buffalo which had been newly restored or whose existance is often overlooked due to isolation by landscape features or manmade structures, such as the waterfront areas in northwest Buffalo.  This mission continued with the second challenge in 2023.

In 2024, the Urban Treks Challenge took things to the next technological level by integrating app support through Eventzee and Avenza Maps.  Integration of Eventzee into the challenge allowed for the addition of new ways to participate in the challenges such as locating animals or specific trees along the challenge routes.  Avenza Maps allowed for more detailed route mapping and easier navigation by challenge participants.  The theme of the 2024 challenge was the “Year of the Trees” with treks selected to highlight the abundant tree life of the city, and how Buffalo’s fruit trees and other urban plant life support the city’s human and animal populations.  New challenges introduced through the new apps encouraged participants to identify plant and animal life spotted along each trek.

Participants in the 2024 challenge hailed the integration of the new apps, praising the ability to log completed treks and upload images all in one place, as well as the enhanced navigation offered through digital maps, showing that these apps were a successful way to integrate technology into the mission of getting pariticipants outside to experience nature.

The Urban Treks Challenge runs from mid June – October 15 each year.   All treks are designed to be accessible individuals of varying mobility, child-friendly, and pet-friendly except where prohibited.  All proceeds from the challenge go to the BRRAlliance and its continuing mission of the overall betterment of the Black Rock, Riverside, Grant-Amherst, and West Hertel communities of Buffalo, New York.

Anne and Mike Radomski celebrate another successful year of the Challenge! (Oct 2024)