John Takes a Hike: Reedy Creek Greenway

Hike: Reedy Creek Greenway
Location: Capital Area Greenway
Nearby Town: Raleigh, NC
Elevation (Max): 480'
Elevation Gained: 220'
Mileage: 4.7
Difficulty: Easy
Trailhead: From I-40, take Exit 289 onto Raleigh Chapel Hill Expressway. Exit Raleigh Chapel Hill Expressway at the first exit onto Edwards Mill Road and turn L. Turn L on Reedy Creek Rd., then park on the first gravel road on the left.
Web Site: Raleigh Capital Area Greenway

One of the best things about the Triangle is its large and growing network of greenways for pedestrian and bicycle use. They are all over the place and increasingly becoming interconnected allowing cyclists to get around without facing off against traffic on four lane roads. This hike details an out and back on part of the Reedy Creek Greenway. Reedy Creek provides a good illustration of the interconnectedness of the greenways--one can go the 15 miles or so from Meredith College in Raleigh, by the North Carolina Museum of Art, along Reedy Creek Road, through Umstead State Park, onto Black Creek Greenway in Cary, which ends on Chapel Hill Road near downtown Cary with only a few brief segments on vehicular roads.

After getting out of the car you can go either way on Reedy Creek Greenway, which parallels Reedy Creek Rd. If you go left, you will arrive at Umstead State Park where the paved greenway transitions to a packed gravel road. For this walk, E and I chose to go right. First, though, we checked out the horses in the field beside the greenway. We stood next to the fence admiring the horses and the baby horses and watched as another couple a few feet away pet one of the horses across the fence. As I reached my arm across the fence to rub a horse's shoulder, my forearm touched a nylon string with an electrified wire weaved into it, and the shock was quite startling to me, but probably more so to the horse who took off running. So, the lesson here is don't pet the horses, or if you do, stay away from that wire.

The horses

Anyways, we walked along Reedy Creek Road on the greenway, occasionally stepping aside to allow cyclists to pass. When the greenway intersects Edwards Mill Road, you can either cross on the crosswalk or, to avoid the road, follow the greenway to the right through an underpass beneath Edwards Mill Rd. The next portion of the greenway is a sidewalk through an industrial sort of area--definitely not the highlight of the walk. Don't worry, though, it gets better. The road will intersect Blue Ridge Road, across which lies the North Carolina Museum of Art and its Museum Park. The greenway continues through the Art Park which features several outdoor pieces of art along with many side trails leading to other pieces of art. These trails are generally short and can be easily explored. The greenway then enters its most strenuous section with steep ups and downs eventually leading to a pedestrian bridge (the longest in North Carolina) that crosses I-440. E and I turned around here to return to the car for a 4.7 mile round trip. You could continue along the greenway, though, and follow it along the edge of Meredith College's campus to its terminus across from Ben and Jerry's on Hillsborough Street.