Hosted by the Friends of Northampton Trails, the Great Tree Bike Tour is a self-guided bike tour through the neighborhoods of Northampton that can be completed anytime during the week of Sat. May 21, 2022 - Sun. May 29, 2022.

Each stop features an audio description of the story and unique nature of these 11 champion trees, accessible via QR code. A printable map of the tour (including QR codes and detailed instructions) is available here and on our website fntrails.org. Participation is free.

Credits & History

The 2019 Great Tree Bicycle Tour grew out of a 2018 summer project by Smith College Botanical Garden Intern Madeleine Lombard who worked with both Smith College and the City of Northampton to highlight exceptional tree specimens in downtown Northampton and integrate them into Smith's existing campus-wide "TreeSpeak" program.

TreeSpeak allows passersby to learn about a given specimen tree by scanning with their smartphone a QR label on the tree and access an audio file that teaches about that tree.

In Fall 2019, two local non-profit​ organizations,​ Tree Northampton (TN) and Friends of the Northampton Trails (FNT), ​teamed up to expand the “Tree Speak” in Northampton and promote extraordinary trees--as well as biking--by co-sponsoring a city-wide “Great Tree Bicycle Tour”. Many talented TN and FNT volunteers, in coordination with Smith College and the Northampton Department of Public Works, researched and recorded more audio files, and created an interactive map and signage for biking the tour. Over 150 bicyclists joined the tour which highlighted three “state champion” trees as well as trees that have deep historic importance to Northampton.

In 2020, as part of MA Bike Month, FNT revised the brochure and made it freely available online.