Biking the Neuse River Trail Greenway

• Date Biked: May 25, 2020
• Posted length: Neuse River Trail:  27.5 miles.  Clayton Riverwalk + Sam's Branch Greenway: 5.25
• Total miles Tracked: 68 miles 
• Type of Trail: paved greenway
• Conveniences: Parking lots
• Best Features: Only two road crossings the whole length. Plenty of access points. 
• Worst Features: Very few bathrooms or water stations near the trail, especially the southern portion. Sometimes crowded. 
• Wildlife spotted: It's common to see deer, rabbits, herons, snakes, turkeys and turtles. 
• Vegetation: Hardwood forests, overgrown briers, wildflowers
• Associated Website: https://raleighnc.gov/places/neuse-river-greenway-trail
• Primary Author: James

The Neuse River Trail is, in our opinion, the best overall greenway you can bike in North Carolina. It's the longest continuous greenway in the state at 27.5 miles, and flows seamlessly onto the Clayton Riverwalk, which connects to the Sam's Branch Greenway, for very close to 33 miles of trail. It was designed like a bike interstate; there are underpasses and overpasses to get you past intersecting roads, so that on the whole length you only have two roads where you might encounter cars. There's a short bit of road that takes you into Anderson Point Park, and you also cross Brownfields Road, where I can't recall ever encountering a single vehicle. If you enjoy riding without once worrying about traffic, this is as good as it gets. 

Taking you above and below existing roads, you can bike for miles without worrying about cars. 

At least, you don't have to worry about cars. Foot traffic and bike traffic are a different issue. The trail is fairly wide for a greenway, but bikes share the path with runners and walkers, and sections of the trail can be downright congested, especially on Saturday mornings. 

But, even on a crowded Saturday, one of the best parts about riding the Neuse is that it's not just bikers that enjoy the absence of traffic. Ride for any distance at all, especially early morning or later in the evening, and it's almost a guarantee you'll see wildlife. Deer are abundant, rabbits are pretty common, and herons are easy to spot during the summer. Wild turkeys tend to show up on the southern sections. There's enough wildlife that, when we took a picture of some wild turkeys in a fields, they got photobombed by a deer. The trail also makes snakes feel at home, so keep your eyes open for copperheads. 

There are so many deer along this trail they sometimes turn up in photos uninvited! 

We ride the Neuse frequently. Given its length, it offers several convenient rides. Out and back the full length is certainly doable during the spring and fall. Things get a bit trickier in the full heat of summer because one area where the Neuse falls short is in water stations. There are bathrooms and fountains at Anderson Point Park, which is located between miles 17 and 18. There's also bathrooms and a fountain at mile 0, at the Falls Lake Dam. And in between... nothing, at least not directly on the trail. There's a few spots where you can detour away and reach a good breaking area in less than a mile between the dam and the park. One of our favorites is a spur at Trailhead Lane. You can follow this to an apartment complex, and next to that there's a Sheetz. South of Anderson Point Park, alas, is a journey for people with strong bladders. There are zero restrooms along the trail. There are, however, miles and miles of rolling landscape that make you feel far removed from the large city only a few miles distant. 

Come for the bathrooms, stay for the birdhouses! 

Usually, we park at Anderson Point Park and ride either the northern section or the southern section, and add it little connecting greenways to get in about 40 miles of riding. North of Anderson Point Park, you encounter the Mingo Creek Trail, the Smith Creek Greenway, and the Abbotts Creek Trail. The Mingo Creek is the longest, at just over 3 miles, and has some nice boardwalks through wetlands. The Smith Creek Greenway looks like it's planned to eventually connect to a longer greenway, and has an impressive bridge to ride across, but is mainly just a mile through backyards of recently built houses. Abbotts Creek Creek is only about a mile before it hits Falls River Avenue, and is one of the most wildlife rich places you can ride. Your odds of seeing deer here are very high, and even if the deer aren't around the boardwalks will take you over wetlands full of wildflowers. 

Also some truly enormous butterflies.

Speaking of wildflowers, around mile 15, near the site of the old Milburnie Dam, there's was an impressive display when we biked in May, and there are fields south of Anderson Point Park brimming with flowers. In Anderson Point Park itself there's a large meadow, and numerous magnolia trees. Anderson Point Park is also the start of the Crabtree Creek Greenway. Currently, you can bike out about 6 miles before it's shut for maintenance. Two miles south of Anderson Point, you'll encounter the Walnut Creek Greenway, which is over ten miles long, but shows it's age after the first three or four miles. Still, between the Neuse and the connecting greenways, it really wouldn't be difficult to put together 100+ miles of biking without hardly any road crossings. 

A final note is that the Neuse is a segment of two larger trails. The full length is part of North Carolina's Mountain to Sea Trail. South of Walnut Creek, the Neuse is also part of the East Coast Greenway, which will one day be a series of greenways from Maine to Florida. North Carolina has one of the longest continuous segments, allowing you to bike from the center of Durham all the way to Clayton with nearly all of the distance on greenways or park roads. 

Cheryl and I feel very lucky to have a greenway with such a great length and design less than an hour from our house. The Neuse wasn't completely finished when we first started biking, and, much like the American Tobacco Trail, the the trail kept getting longer which pushed us to keep biking further. The fact that both trails are now fully linked up by connecting trails makes the Triangle one of the best places you could want to live if you enjoy biking. 

Kayak to Sandy Island, Waccamaw River, SC

• Date Kayaked: May 17, 2020
• Total miles Tracked: 6.57 miles 
• Type of paddle: River - Tide dependent
• Best Features: History, unique setting, easy launch
• Put-in/Take-out:  Easy, gravel launch
• Worst Features: Strong currents and boat traffic!
• Wildlife spotted: Variety of typical coastal water fowl
• Vegetation: Marsh grasses, wildflowers, water lilly
• Associated Websites: https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/sandy-island-preserve/   and https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/secrets-of-sandy-island
• Primary Author:  Cheryl

A kayak to Sandy Island on the Waccamaw River is a trip we've taken several times before.  We went down to Garden City Beach, SC in May to kayak with the family, and Sandy Island was a destination many of us listed when making plans.  Sandy Island is completely surrounded by rivers and there are no bridges to the island.  The residents that still live on Sandy Island are the decentents of enslaved people that worked on the rice plantation.   There are about 50 residents that still live on the island, and the state of SC even has a School Bus Boat that brings the kids over during the school year.  Several years ago, developers wanted to build on the island, but that was stopped and most of the island is now a Nature Conservancy.

The boat launch that we embarked on is the same launch that the residents of the island use.  The launch itself is gravel and there is enough room for small power boats to also launch from. The boat ramp is at the end of a canal that leads out into the Waccamaw River.

I am always taking photos of wildflowers!

As you can see from this satellite view of our tracker, the island is very sandy. After leaving the launch, we traveled downstream of the Waccamaw and explored one of the canals into the island. We were very close to the "lagoon" but the canal we were in did not connect.  The interior lagoon and the sandy bank on the other side (on Thoroughfare creek) is a popular boating destination, including where we were heading.  Alas, wind, current and boat traffic altered our plans.  

The day started out sunny. These photos show the stillness of the water as we paddle the canal leading from the boat launch.

Once we leave the canal, we're on the Waccamaw River.  The Waccamaw is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, and there are several marinas up and down this portion of the river.  The Waccamaw is also quite wide in this section.  The shores are lined with cypress trees, creating plenty of shade.

Water Lilly plants also live close to the shore.  When traveling downriver, these are not terribly difficult to paddle through.  They do get caught in your paddles, but if you are traveling in the direction that the water (and leaves) are flowing, it's not an issue.

We love to explore when we paddle.  James had noticed there was a canal that led inland, so we paddled down as far as we could, which was quite a long way!  In this canal, we were out of the strong current and all the traffic on the river.  It was peaceful and beautiful.

 We knew we were close the the lagoon, within a hundred yards according to GPS. We'd hoped there might be some connection, but we couldn't find any and the land was too overgrown and mucky to try to drag the kayaks to it.  We departed from the calmness of the canal and went back into the busy river.  Unfortunately, due to Covid19, the boat ramps had been closed for two months and had just opened back up. Since it was a pretty weekend, EVERYONE had their boats on the water!

To get to the lagoon, you paddle up Thoroughfare Creek from the Waccamaw.  Where the creek meets the river there are a lot of swirling currents.  Add that to the wind we started to encounter, the ever present current from the tide, and the wake of all the boats, we all were nearly swamped as we turned into the creek. 

Want a hot dog?  Party on the cabana?  This entrepreneur was ready for all the boats.  

We made it up Thoroughfare creek and attempted to enter into the lagoon through the canal.  But WOW we encountered some amazing current.  We were all tired and ready for lunch.  The sky had changed from the sunny blue to gray and overcast.  There was some space to pull our boats up at the entrance to the canal so we took advantage of it and had our break there.  As we stood around eating our sandwiches, somebody noted that the canal was a clown car of boats.  They just kept coming out, one after another!

Rested and refreshed, it was time to paddle back.  We knew we had a challenge ahead of us.  We had to paddle upstream against a head wind and rain.  We kept taking breaks to rest among the cypress groves. 

Our paddle plan had been to hug the shore on the left and paddle all the way up to the boat launch at the Sandy Island community.  We knew that crossing the Waccamaw we'd lose ground (or river) due to current and wind, so we were aiming to go straight through the main canal instead of making a beeline for our take out. Luckily, we made it across without getting pushed too far downstream.

The last photos we took during the paddle:  creating a flotilla to rest before continuing our paddle up river.  

Sandy Island is a fun adventure.  There are other creeks and canals along this section of the Waccamaw that we'd like to explore in the future.  If you make it to the lagoon (or the sandy side from the creek) keep in mind that these rivers are affected by the tide, so pull your boats way up from the water line.  Also, if you go in the summer, the temperature of the sand is close to that of molten lava!  Another plan would be to make the trip during the week instead of a weekend. With less boat traffic, you can reach the lagoon, which is a perfect spot for a swim on a hot day.

Kayaking in Murrell's Inlet: Oyster Shell Recycling Put-in

• Date Kayaked: May 16, 2020
• Total miles Tracked: 3.54 miles 
• Type of paddle: Ocean inlet
• Best Features: Easy access, 24 hours
• Put-in/Take-out:  Drive right up to the water's edge
• Worst Features: No facilities at landing, tide dependent
• Wildlife spotted: cannonball jellies, egrets, herons, oysters
• Vegetation: Marsh grass
• Associated Website: none
• Primary Author:  Cheryl

Before we owned kayaks, we had a canoe. It was a great starter boat, but it was heavy and awkward to load on the car.  Back on our honeymoon in 2011, we rented a kayak at a state park in Florida and tooled around on the Rainbow River.  It was much easier to maneuver, but it was still a tandem boat.  We knew single kayaks would be a lot of fun to try out, and also to transport.  One summer when down at the beach with James' family, we went to Woody's in Garden City Beach and rented ocean kayaks for 3 days.  That was it!  We were HOOKED!  The next spring we invested in our own kayaks and sold the canoe and began our paddling adventures. The following summer, we hauled our kayaks down for family vacation and James' sisters rented kayaks from Woody's and we became a boating family.  We've upgraded ours and other family members now own kayaks, and we love the adventures that we have together. 

Our kayaks lined up ready for adventure

We spent many of summer in Garden City Beach, SC with the family, and rented a house on the canals that feed into Murrell's Inlet.  So much of our early paddling was in the inlet exploring the different creeks that branch off the main channel.  But if you don't rent a house with water access, there are multiple public access on the Murrell's Inlet where you can put in.  

One of our favorites we refer to as Oyster Shell Recycling.  It's an unofficial boat launch just north of Huntington Beach State Park, down a dirt road where you recycle your oyster shells.  You put in a little south of the main channel of Murrell's inlet, into Oaks Creek.  Other launch points along the inlet include Morse Park Landing and the public boat ramp next to Crazy Sister Marina.  The closer to the marina, the bigger the channel - and the bigger the boats. 

We had a group of 7 in our flotilla including me, James, his sisters Joy and Gina, niece Madeline, Cousin Carrie and Uncle Chuck.  

I like putting boat in at the Oyster Shell recycling because there is less traffic down in Oaks Creek.  You avoid many of the jet skis, head boats and the banana boat riders that zip through the main channel. The marsh is full of birds.  On this day, we saw egrets, a hawk, ducks and snowy egrets.

And of course our favorite: blue herons.

Oaks Creek narrows into channels that become a maze, twisting through the marsh grasses.  Oysters are revealed when the tide is low.  

If you play the tides correctly, you can paddle all the way down to the causeway leading into Huntington Beach State Park.  We are always looking for gators, but so far we have not encountered them paddling in this area.

Huntington Beach State Park Causeway

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If you get too shallow, the pluff mud will stop you!  It creates a suction under your boat making it impossible to paddle, and you can't get out either or you will sink to your knees. I struggled for a bit to get back to flowing water.

Did I mention the tides?  While it is super easy to unload and load your boats here because you can pull right up to the water, keep an eye on the incoming tide.  We almost had to move the car before we finished tying up the boats.

If you're in the area and just looking for a good, easy paddle, check it out. Just watch the tides! The area to the right of the launch is wide and pleasant during high tide, but quickly turns impassible when the tide starts going out. It's not the end of the world, since the main channel of Oaks Creek keeps enough water to follow it back to the launch. Still, if you head into this area and start bumping bottom, you might want to turn back. It's a long slog through muck if you get stranded! Don't let that hold  you back, however. This is a great place to kayak any time of day or year.