30 Times People Ignored The Designated Paths In The Name Of Convenience (New Pics)
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!
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Desire Path Created By A Squirrel We Feed Peanuts To Every Morning
Desirepath Regocnition In The Netherlands
Understandable Desire Path
Never Heard Of This Before, But Figured I Had The Perfect One
Been Here 30 Years, I Don't Think The Gate Has Ever Been Used
Well Worn Wal-Mart Path. Deepest I've Ever Seen
They're Both Kind Of Appealing
Miami U (Ohio) With The Awareness!!
Update: Tree Is Budding + Secondary Path
Desire Stairs
Beautiful Exemplar
"Please, Take This Circuitous Route Following The Perimeter" Signed, The Architects
Ultimate Acceptance
Three Years Ago, I Posted About A Desire Path On My Campus. We Are Successful!
Frosty Scotland
Desire Path To Avoid A Branch Hanging Over Another Larger Desire Path
The Fast Track To Fastrac
It's Not Very Long But It's Got Character
My Daughter Found The Shortest Way Home
This His Is In Fact A Walkway, Thanks Though Lil’ Sign
Useful Desire Path
Long, Foggy, More Direct Desire Path At Ucsc
My University Gave Into Our Desire Path- In A Way That Created Another, Smaller Desire Path
One Side Preferred
A Low-Tech Approach To Defeating A Desire Path
Desirepath? Gimme That Desirestreet!
Absolute Behemoth Desired Path Next To The College In My Home Town
When a famous architect was putting up a new office complex a few decades ago, he deliberately did *not* put in any sidewalks/footpaths once construction was done. He waited a couple of months, noted where the grass was worn down, and that's where he had the permanent footpaths put in.
Note: this post originally had 43 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Same here. So very human and no celebrities.
Load More Replies... Ive never heard the term “desire paths”. We always called them “cow paths.” Learn something new everyday!
In German, the very unromantic term translates to "trampled path".
Load More Replies...
Fun Fact: Michigan State University didn’t put in sidewalks when new buildings were built. Instead, they waited for students to create their own paths. yg8gz0knvv...7a39ec.jpg 
Same here. So very human and no celebrities.
Load More Replies... Ive never heard the term “desire paths”. We always called them “cow paths.” Learn something new everyday!
In German, the very unromantic term translates to "trampled path".
Load More Replies... Fun Fact: Michigan State University didn’t put in sidewalks when new buildings were built. Instead, they waited for students to create their own paths. yg8gz0knvv...7a39ec.jpg
