Walkabout and then some: Man traverses every Longmont street in five months

Justin Robbins has walked 5 to 6 miles a day for exercise for longer than he can remember. Growing tired of his same route, he decided to embark on a new journey to walk all of Longmont’s 1,084 streets beginning in November. 

A software engineer, Robbins prior to the pandemic would walk twice a day, once during his workday lunch break and again after dinner.

“It was easy to get in 5 or 6 miles a day when it was broken up,” he said. 

When the pandemic hit, Robbins found himself bored with his route and decided to explore new areas. 

“If I’m going to walk in new areas wouldn’t it be a lot of fun if I tried to walk in every neighborhood in Longmont,” he said. 

So on Nov. 1, Robbins began walking every street in Longmont using two apps, CityStrides and Strava. The apps helped him track which streets he had already covered and to plan the next day’s adventure. In total, he walked 586 miles in 97 days ending the trek on March 1.

He found the Old Town and northeastern parts of Longmont to be his favorites. Old Town because it reminded him of his hometown in Morris County, New Jersey, and the northeastern part of the city because he previously never had cause to go to that area. 

Robbins said he uses his time walking to clear his mind and think. He finds the change of scenery helps with approaching a problem from a different angle. 

In a YouTube video he created, he said his favorite memories of his walk across Longmont were around Christmas, seeing the classic cars in town and exploring the art. 

During the holidays, people really stepped up decorating with lights, he said. At the time, he was primarily walking either south of Pike Road or north of 17th Avenue, west of Main Street. 

“Across the board, I just found that folks in Longmont went big this year with Christmas lights, it was really nice,” he said. 

Robbins said he knows Longmont has a long “history of classic car appreciation and cruising.” He was surprised to find many such classics east of Main Street and north of Ninth Avenue. 

“It is pretty clear that a lot of folks still have these really cool old vehicles. When I saw them I enjoyed them,” he said.

Encouraging others in Longmont to get out, exercise and explore, Robbins mentioned following the trails system or exploring all of Longmont’s public parks as options to start a local adventure.

Longmont has 25 neighborhood parks, six community parks, nine nature areas and more than 93 miles of park and greenway trails throughout the city, according to the city website.

Robbins doesn’t know what he will choose next but hopes to hike and backpack more as the weather warms. 

“Getting out and walking, period, whether it is an ambitious goal, like what I did, or a little is fine. If you are not used to getting any exercise walking is a good introduction to getting more physical,” he said.