The Hill's Hill Bike Park is the culmination of a 5-year public design process spearheaded by the Arlington Park and Recreation Commission and built with a $400,000 grant from the Arlington Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC), which was approved by Town Meeting in 2023. The design process solicited input from numerous groups and individuals, resulting in the design of a compact, multi-purpose, natural materials bike playground. Construction took place in the spring and summer of 2025, and Hill's Hill Bike Park celebrated its opening on September 6, 2025, attended by over 100 enthusiastic people of all ages. 

The Hill's Hill Bike Park is a progression-based bike park designed to be engaging for a wide range of ages and abilities.  The roughly 18,000sf park is hand and machine constructed from natural soils and located within approximately 5 acres of rolling, wooded terrain that comprises Hill's Hill.   

The bike park features three interconnected practice zones: a Pump Track, a Skills Course, and a Jump Line.  There is a rock-ring seating area overlooking the bike park and a nearby meadow.  The park is interconnected with several existing multi-purpose trails within Hill's Hill.  There are five drywells interspersed in the park to aid drainage and stormwater infiltration.   

The continuous dirt Pump Track is approximately 300' long and includes a drop-in area, berms, rollers, and doubles.  It is designed to be suitable for all ages and abilities with basic bike handling skills.  

The Skills Trail is designed for beginner to advanced riders and includes a log ride, rock roll, trail berm, flush log bridge, and a centerpiece 6' tall, 90-degree curved turn, wooden wall ride with entry and exit berms. 

The Jump Line is approximately 200' long and is a progressive, one-way, 4-jump linear course with side-by-side advanced (A line) and intermediate (B-line) jumps.  The jump features are a mix of rollers, kickers, gaps, and table- tops.  Both lines flow into the Pump Track.

The bike park can be easily accessed off Summer Street or by trail from the Minuteman Bike Path and is close to the Arlington Recreation facilities of Ed Burns Arena (422 Summer St), Buck Field, and Hill's Hill Soccer Field and play structure.  

The Hill’s Hill Bike Park is an unsupervised, use-at-your-own-risk park and open to the public from dawn to dusk. The bike park is closed when soil is wet. Read additional bike park rules.

Two mountain bike riders glide over the pump track at the Sept. 6, 2025 grand opening. 

Many gather at the head of the pump track preparing for the first ride down on Sept. 6, 2025. 

Arlington Park and Recreation Commissioners about the cut the ribbon at the Sept. 6, 2025 grand opening.  

Past Project Process Documents

View the PRC approved design.

March 26, 2024 Hills Hill Mountain Biking Design Public Input Meeting
The Park and Recreation Commission held a public input meeting on March 26th via Zoom with the project's designer, Weston & Sampson, to solicit input and feedback on the preliminary design of Mountain Biking Trails and Mountain Biking Park Features at Hills Hill.

View the presentation.

Nov. 15, 2023 Hills Hill Mountain Biking Design Public Input Meeting 
The Park and Recreation Commission held its first public input session on November 15, 2023 to gather community input. 

View the 11/15/2023 public input session on the design. 
View the 11/15/2023 Meeting Notes

About the Project

Hill’s Hill is host to Ed Burns Arena & Ice-Skating Rink, several baseball / soccer fields, Parks & Recreation offices, and a woodlands area with walking trails throughout. The park is bordered on the southwestern edge by the Minuteman Rail Trail, a double track multi-use thoroughfare for walkers, runners, and bicyclists that stretched east-west through town from Arlington’s Great Meadows to Thorndike field. The undeveloped wooded spaces of the park have been subject to littering, vandalism, and unsanctioned trail building activities in recent years.

In 2021 the Park and Recreation Commission hired Powder Horn Trail Company to perform a feasibility study of the Hill’s Hill area for dedicated mountain biking trails. During the feasibility stage many residents shared concerns and support. Overwhelmingly, many recognized the positive impact that mountain biking has had on them as individuals and families, as well as the impact that similar facilities have already made in other communities across New England. Residents also expressed a desire to remediate the illegal activity in the park through positive means, and that the proposed bike park may accomplish that goal as well. View the Final Feasibility Study.

The Town has contracted with the landscape architectural and engineering firm of Weston & Sampson to design the Hill’s Hill Mountain Biking Area. The project is moving forward due to support of $400,000 in Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding, which was approved by 2023 Spring Town Meeting. The project includes a full tree inventory was completed by the Davey Resource Group.

Weston & Sampson Design Team Draft Meeting Notes

October 20, 2023
October 10, 2023

Public Input Presentations and Written Comments

View September 23, 2021 presentation.
View the August 2, 2022 presentation.
View written comments submitted prior to this meeting.
View written comments submitted after this meeting.