Bikes, Boots, & Boats: March 2020

Date Biked: March 14, 2020
Posted length: 22.6
Total miles Tracked: 23.36
Type of Trail: Rail trail, over half is paved
Conveniences: New Hope Church Trail Head has water fountains, bathrooms, picnic shelters, a bike repair station and a huge parking lot. There are plenty of other trail heads and access points, but New Hope Church sets a pretty high standard.
Best Features: Well maintained, easy to get to, mostly flat and very wide, plenty of shade, good views in places
Worst Features: Can be very crowded, and new housing developments are constantly under construction, ruining the view
Wildlife spotted: On this particular ride, just some turtles. But, deer, herons, and wild turkeys aren't difficult to spot. Also, once it's warmer, snakes. Like, so, so many snakes.*
Vegetation: Pine, cedars, hardwoods, red buds, jasmine
Associated Website: http://www.triangletrails.org/american-tobacco-trail
Primary Author: James

The fact this blog exists at all is probably due to the American Tobacco Trail. Nine years ago, Cheryl and I were couch potatoes. Two mile hikes were ambitious projects. We had bikes, but a six mile ride involved frequent breaks and left us sore. The idea that we'd one day be biking sixty plus miles in a day was pure fantasy.

When we were biking our six mile trips, we were mainly biking on the American Tobacco Trail. When we started, the ATT was still fragmented. There was no bridge over I-40 and gaps in the trail south of 40. There were few official parking lots, and not much in the way of facilities like bathrooms or water fountains. No trail of any significant length connected with the ATT either. Our six mile trips couldn't have been extended much further if we'd wanted to.

Fortunately, as our stamina improved, the ATT improved. The missing gaps got filled in, the bridge over 40 was finally opened, great trailheads, like the one on New Hope Road were built. Last year, the White Oak Creek Greenway finally linked up with the ATT, and now it's possible to ride from downtown Durham all the way to Clayton on a network of trails that form one of the longest continuous segments of the East Coast Greenway, an ambitious project that will one day allow people to ride on greenways all the way from Maine to Florida.

Mile 0

New Hope Trail Head

We ride segments of the ATT multiple times each month, but it had been a long time since we actually rode the whole length from mile zero to the end. At 22 miles from downtown Durham to Apex, the ATT is the second longest greenway in North Carolina. In character, it's also the most diverse, starting within sight of Durham's city center, winding past shopping centers and malls, then through seemingly endless miles of suburban development before finally reaching farmland and forests. Along the way, you're reminded constantly of the area's history. The straight, flat grades leave no doubt you're on an old rail bed. You pass old rail markers and some of the larger bridges stand on former railroad trestles. If you keep your eyes open, just off the trail you'll find old tobacco barns and see the remnants of roads.

Bridge over 40

To be blunt, the ATT isn't the most scenic trail. In some ways, it's a victim of its own success. When we first started riding the trail, everything south of Herndon Park was mostly forest. Now, large housing developments full of McMansions have replaced long stretches of peaceful woods. As the trail heads and access have improved, more people make use of the trail, which is great. I love to see people outside taking advantage of greenways. Still, there are segments of the trails that turn into rolling road blocks of families out for walks with dogs and strollers and kids on scooters. We sometimes still have the trail mostly too ourselves in very cold or very hot weather, but in nice weather on a weekend, we stay away due to the crowds. It's the Yogi Berra quote come to life: "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

Still, if you're hardcore and don't mind biking in hot weather, the ATT is probably the best trail you can ride when the thermometer starts getting above 90 degrees. You're never too many miles from a water fountain, and despite all the development most of the trail has plenty of shade. Also, south of the New Hope Trailhead, the surface is compacted fine gravel instead of pavement, which makes for a cooler ride.

Also, don't let my talk of crowding and overdevelopment steer you away from what is still a really great ride. There are still a few pristine stretches of forest, and about a mile from the Apex end the trail goes across beautiful wetlands full of cattails. There are wildflowers all along the way, and on some of the long, straight, flat sections you can go into a zenlike oneness with the trail, just riding toward the vanishing point. It's well worth the journey.

* Seriously, something about this greenway is a snake magnet. Mostly black snakes on the gravel, but copperheads are fairly common on the paved sections, especially in the evenings during the spring. And not in the middle of nowhere like you'd expect. There's a two mile section between Massey Chapel Road and Scott King Road that's pretty heavily trafficked and we've seen multiple copperheads here on the same ride. That said, don't let a few venomous reptiles scare you away. They won't bother you if you don't bother them.

Dates we visited: February 7, 2020
Posted length: 7.8
Total miles Hiked: 9.92
Type of Trail: Hiking
Conveniences: Parking lot
Best Features: Stunning views
Worst Features: Not a gripe, but know this is fairly strenuous
Wildlife spotted: None (too cold!)
Vegetation: Galax, Mountain Laurel, Spotted Wintergreen
Associated Website: Nothing official, but it's part of the Appalachian Trail.
Primary Author: James

We hiked to McAfee Knob on a day with highs forecast in the 40s. But, most of the hike runs very close to the mountain ridge, and winds were fierce at 25 miles per hour, making this one of the coldest hikes we've ever tackled. There's more photos from the beginning of the hike, because by the end our gloved fingers were too cold and still to operate our cameras!

White blaze of the AT

Despite the cold, we've no regrets about making this hike. The views are spectacular, and while it's a strenuous hike, it's not unbearably so. The nearest parking lot is large with plenty of signage. Be warned that you have to cross a road with blind curves in each direction. After that, you head more or less straight up several hundred feet until you reach the ridge of the mountain. Most of the remaining hike will keep you running along this ridge or in sight of it, so the elevation changes really aren't bad for most of the middle section of the hike.

A brief moment of sunshine during the hike

There are two primary trails leading to the final section that heads up to McAfee Knob. One is the Appalachian Trail (AT) and the other is an old fire road. We hiked on the AT, expecting this to have the best scenery, but it's so rocky and rooty that we spent most of the hike looking at our feet. There were lots of small creeks to hop across, and if you're looking for an actual hiking experience across challenging terrain it's definitely the route to take.

Snow flurries on Galax

Once the AT and the fire road converge again after about three miles, you start heading up toward McAfee Knob. This is a fairly gradual climb and will take you past several large boulders until you reach the small side trail that takes you out onto the Knob itself.

Remember those twenty five mile per hour winds? Being on the Knob itself was like being in a wind tunnel. It was blowing snow and pushing us so hard we could barely stand up. Hopefully you won't make the trip under the same challenges, because the view is amazing. You're only a few miles from Roanoke, but looking west toward scenic valleys and further along the AT. Given that the snowy wind felt like needles, it was literally breathtaking.

Not trying to pose dramatically - bracing against the wind gusts!

Coming back down, we decided to take the fire road, not expecting much of it. It turned out to have great views down both sides of the ridge and numerous large rock formations. And, since it's a smooth, fairly level surface, you can actually look at your surroundings instead of where you're placing your feet.

But wait! There's more!

While we were in the area, the weather greatly improved on Sunday morning, and our hotel was less than a mile from the Tinker Creek Greenway. We popped over to it and found it to be delightful. After a short walk through a field you enter a an evergreen forest and walk along gentle hills by the creek. The mossy ground gives the whole walk a fairy tale feel. So, if you're in Roanoke to hike McAfee Knob, throw this walk in as well!