Saturday afternoon, May 30th, Seth, Keith, & I met off Poole Road in Raleigh to bike the Neuse River trail. It seemed a good idea. A trail along a river is usually pretty level terrain, maybe even shady, or so we thought. After leaving the parking lot at the trail head we realized right away we'd be traveling a rough gravel road. Much of the time it followed the river, but often it snaked away & wound back towards more hilly terrain. For a brief time the trail merged with a paved road which surprised us with a very steep hill! After pushing my bike up the "mountain" we headed downhill again to a beautiful area of swamp, or wetlands, spread out in every direction. Wooden bridges had been built to cross the swampy area.
All in all, the trail was about 3 miles long, so we covered 6 miles in close to 2 hours. (Seth could have done it in less time; Keith & I haven't ridden much this summer:)) We stopped often, walked our bikes often, & few spots were easy-going.
Thank goodness we didn't have many bugs:)
The photo here shows some shade next to the river, but we didn't find many places like this.
I must admit I would rate this trail near the bottom of my favorite area trails for amateurs' list.
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