You’re running late to the bus stop. You check your clock every few strides — there’s still hope to make it. But after you turn a corner, you see that the sidewalk you’ve been sprinting takes a ridiculous curve instead of going straight to the street where you need to go. So what do you do? Cut the line through the grass.
You’ve just taken a ‘desire path,’ described by Robert Macfarlane as “paths & tracks made over time by the wishes & feet of walkers, especially those … that run contrary to design or planning”; he calls them “free-will ways.”
Robert Moor offers other terms, such as ‘cow paths,’ ‘pirate paths,’ ‘social trails,’ ‘kemonomichi (beast trails),’ ‘chemins de l’âne (donkey paths)’, and ‘Olifantenpad (elephant trails).’
JM Barrie described them as ‘Paths that have Made Themselves.’
Whichever word you decide to use, there’s a whole subreddit dedicated to these shortcuts, and it perfectly illustrates that urban developers aren’t always on top of their game. Or that people are just lazy. Or maybe it’s both!
#1 Desire Path Created By A Squirrel We Feed Peanuts To Every Morning
Image credits: CapeClaw
#2 Beautiful Exemplar
Image credits: hassenrueb
#3 A Low-Tech Approach To Defeating A Desire Path
Image credits: sunburntandblonde
#4 Never Heard Of This Before, But Figured I Had The Perfect One
Image credits: Winter_Following1050
#5 Understandable Desire Path
Image credits: Isabellake1
#6 Been Here 30 Years, I Don’t Think The Gate Has Ever Been Used
Image credits: VonBlitzk
#7 Desirepath Regocnition In The Netherlands
Image credits: r13z
#8 Desire Stairs
Image credits: MastaBaba
#9 One Side Preferred
Image credits: StoryPenguin
#10 Desire Path To Avoid A Branch Hanging Over Another Larger Desire Path
Image credits: HamburgerEsquire
#11 Useful Desire Path
Image credits: elvivacious
#12 The Fast Track To Fastrac
Image credits: HardcoreMandolinist
#13 Update: Tree Is Budding + Secondary Path
Image credits: mikeydhakid
#14 This His Is In Fact A Walkway, Thanks Though Lil’ Sign
Image credits: skypineapple
#15 Long, Foggy, More Direct Desire Path At Ucsc
Image credits: Tinktilo
#16 Absolute Behemoth Desired Path Next To The College In My Home Town
Image credits: The-Imperator_
#17 They’re Both Kind Of Appealing
Image credits: kmaffett1
#18 Next Level Desire Path
Image credits: colfaxmachine
#19 Well Worn Wal-Mart Path. Deepest I’ve Ever Seen
Image credits: Otherwise-Seaweed-76
#20 A Really Cool One In My Town
Image credits: ringtossflamingohat
#21 Frosty Scotland
Image credits: reddit.com
#22 Miami U (Ohio) With The Awareness!!
Image credits: miamiuniversity
#23 Desirepath? Gimme That Desirestreet!
Image credits: 137353
#24 I See One In The Making
Image credits: reddit.com
#25 Desired Paths, Kaunas, Lithuania C.1976
Image credits: kmantas
#26 Public Footpaths In The UK Through Fields Are Desire Highways
Image credits: RHouse650
#27 “Please, Take This Circuitous Route Following The Perimeter” Signed, The Architects
Image credits: reddit.com
#28 Running Down The Desire Path
Image credits: DTanner
#29 We Won !
Image credits: _insomniack
#30 Ultimate Acceptance
Image credits: sixtypizzas
#31 A Particular Pointless One
Image credits: kasnhasn
#32 Desire Path So Strong Is Goes Through A Metal Mesh Fence
Image credits: Joshimuz
#33 Rest In Peace My Friend
Image credits: Mikofert
#34 My University Gave Into Our Desire Path- In A Way That Created Another, Smaller Desire Path
Image credits: mimsie43000
#35 A Rejection Of The Most Confusing Section Of Sidewalk In My Apartment Complex
Image credits: cable1oo
#36 It’s Not Very Long But It’s Got Character
Image credits: Schwanzus_Longus_69
#37 Spotted On The Uc Riverside Campus
Image credits: AROY0
#38 My Daughter Found The Shortest Way Home
Image credits: NetworkHuge
#39 Smallest Desire Path: Cyclists Avoiding A Small Gap-Bump On The Asphalt
Image credits: Penkinvaltaaja
#40 Two Shopping Centres Are Separated By A Long Stretch Of Train Tracks. No Amount Of Signs Can Stop People
Image credits: TheMelonOfWater
#41 Desire Steps?
Image credits: Sachem81
#42 Three Years Ago, I Posted About A Desire Path On My Campus. We Are Successful!
Image credits: PapaJamu
#43 Just Saved 3 Seconds With This Beauty, 6 If You Count The Return Trip
Image credits: yrhendystu
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