Raleigh Greenway Fallon Creek Trail 9 Report 1

Capitol Area Greenway – Trail 9 2006: Fallon Creek Trail 0.5 miles (based on the map more like 1.0)

Background:

For those visiting Raleigh and new residents of Raleigh should be aware of the wonderful park system and the “Capitol Area Greenway.”

The “Capitol Area Greenway” is a project in process. Started in March 1974 by the city council of Raleigh it has a master plan to make sure that there is open space for residents throughout the city. It is being built one trail, one park and one community area at a time.

Today the city boasts more than 50 miles of trails connecting many of the more than 3000 acres of city park land.

In 1996 Hurricane Fran badly damaged the parks and trails throughout the city. A clearing and rebuilding was required the years immediately following the storm. Today the city is well underway on its project to create links between the greenways and realize the original plan. Many of the trails are still to be connected, while those that are create wonderful off road access to many parts of the city for bikers, hikers and runners.

Fallon Creek Trail – Trail 9 Report 1

Take Wake Forest Rd. south from the intersection with Six Forks Rd. to McNeill St. Then take a right onto McNeill St. and go to the end where it intersects with Noble Rd. Go straight into the parking lot of Kiwanis Park.

Fallon Creek Trail starts at Kiwanis Park near the intersection of McNeill St. and Noble Rd. Parking is plentiful at the park. As with all the parks and trails it is open dawn to dusk. The trail entry is technically at the intersection of Noble Rd. and Hodges St. but Hodges St. is just a stranded segment of the street unconnected to the rest of the street.

The trail starts by going west toward Oxford Rd. following what is most likely Fallon Creek; passing an short trail to Oxford Rd. (which was being repaired at the time); there are two small metal bridges with wooden planking that pass over the smaller creek; then it goes north crossing a longer metal bridge with wooden treads, over the larger and wider Crabtree Creek; from here a trail goes off to the left to what appears to go Calibre Chase Dr.. The trail follows the eastern bank of Crabtree Creek going under Wake Forest Rd., a railroad bridge and under Atlantic Avenue. At the time of my visit to the trail the portion beyond Atlantic was closed due to the flooding damage caused by Hurricane Alberto in June 2006.

Notes on Fallon Creek Trail:

I parked at Kiwanis Park. The parking lot is directly at the end McNeill St. making it very convenient.

Kiwanis Park is a large park with a playground, basketball courts and soccer fields. The parking lot is large and can accommodate quite a number of cars. There are bathroom facilities available during park hours.

There is a row of picnic tables that line park to the end of Noble Rd. where it intersects with the stranded stub of Hodges Rd. The Greenway entry is located at this intersection.

I did not see any signage to indicate this was Fallon Creek Trail or showing the outline and length of the trail. In fact during my visit to this trail other than the Greenway sign that shows this is part of the system and what is allowed and what is not, I did not see any signage.

The signs of the flooding from Hurricane Alberto are clear all along this trail. The nearby residential areas and businesses were hard hit by the huge amount of water dropped on the city.

At the entry to trail lush low green trees to the right of the trail are covered with a thin layer of mud from the water that sat here. The water stains are higher than I am tall this is impressive as the normal stream beds here are eight to ten feet below the trail height.

In the areas of the trail where the water overtopped the vegetation, all the flowers that are normal to this time of year were swept away leaving a brown green border to the trail.

Leaving the entry there is a large flat area with a soccer field on the left. On the right are the trees I have mentioned and taller trees behind these.

Opposite the soccer goal net is the first park bench I notice. It is on metal posts with wooden seat and back. It appears in excellent condition in spite of spending a few long days under water. Just beyond, the trees come together creating a wooded entry into the deeper trail.

Almost immediately on entering the woods I am greeted by a metal bridge that crosses a small deep stream. The banks of the stream are narrow and very, very deep; like they have been violently torn out. There is no vegetation on the sides, just a murky brown soil.

On one side part of the city infrastructure, a pipe of some sort is clearly visible crossing over the stream.

Leaving this first bridge behind me, I am immediately faced with a choice. The path has a ‘Y’ intersection. I can go straight along the flat path ahead or go right across a second bridge. I did mention the problem with signage.

Going straight appears to bring one to Oxford Rd. a short distance ahead. I went up this route until I could see a city crew that was digging a huge hole in the trail. I could see the end of this little path beyond them, so I returned to the bridge. Whatever they were doing it will probably be some days before this would be a piece of the trail ready for prime time.

I crossed the bridge across a moderate size creek. Without signage of some sort I am not sure which creek is which. This creek is larger than the first and I suspect that this is where I was crossing Crabtree Creek. The water is wider and deeper here.

From here the trail goes into the woods. It is wide and flat with more signs of the water rising over the banks. The trails here have been cleaned of most of the dirt and debris from the flood.

Within a short distance I come across another park bench. Like the first one, it appears little worse for wear. The trail is in excellent condition here, although it is covered in sand brought up from the creek bed.

Perhaps a tenth mile beyond I come upon a third bridge over a very deep stream bed. Though this bed has little water in it, it was clearly gouged deeply by the recent storm. The signs of erosion on both banks show clearly through newly exposed tree roots and lack of vegetation nearly to the top of the banks.

From here the trail begins to flow like a normal trail, if there is such a thing. The trail moves along gently and smoothly as it wanders through the woods with glimpses of the small stream bed.

Finally I come to a highway bridge where the trail goes under the road. There are stairs on one side so I climb them to see where I am. This is Wake Forest Rd. In spite of the fast flow of the traffic, the noise does not intrude much on the trail, except at this crossing.

It’s a lot like being a prairie dog and poking ones head up as a herd of buffalo rush by. It’s okay as long as they aren’t going in your direction.

The stairs come up beside Southern States, one of the areas largest auto dealerships. They had to move hundreds of cars due to the flooding to protect them from harm

The trail starts hugging the bank of Crabtree Creek as it flows through the city.

The columns that hold the bridge up are not all straight up and down. Some seem to lean a bit to one side. All I can figure is this is to protect the bridge from the power of the Creek, which during floods is strong, like a small river.

After crossing under the bridge the trail cannot hide its urban location anymore. The left hand side has rocks, grass and trees. Behind these are car lots, restaurants and industrial buildings. The city does not intrude in the sense that the places that follow the trail are quiet places that can easily be ignored.

The sides of the trail are far above the creek bed and have numerous flowers adorning them. Uninjured by the storm, they peek out of the greenery providing red, gold, white, blue, yellow and blue glimpses of beauty.

Many of the blooms are foreign to my northern eyes. I am surprised by blue hibiscus that probably escaped some local nursery. White morning glories climb with the vines overhanging the trail. Little white and gold field flowers poke out among the grasses. Even the grasses here are different. Longer taller grasses midway to the height of Egyptian grass that is commonly seen the area.

The trail is lush and green here and totally unaffected by the flooding.

Now I come upon a railroad bridge, tall above the creek below. Down at its base are a stack of huge logs caught by the very structure that holds the bridge on this side of the creek. It looks like one of these trees has been smoothly cut off. It was probably much larger during the flood.

The trail crosses under the railroad bridge through what looks like one of those wooden tunnels you see on a covered bridge. Perhaps there is danger of things falling from the tracks above. It is a very attractive and well built structure.

Almost immediately passed the railroad bridge the trail comes to a premature halt. The trail goes under a regular road bridge at Atlantic Ave. Today it is blocked off both at the bridge and as the entry on the other side of Atlantic Ave. As it is clear it will take a bit of time for the Parks and Recreation folks to fully restore the trail I turned back here.

I will visit this trail again when the city has opened it up again.

This bridge is right beside the intersection of Atlantic Ave. and Hodges St. Again when I poke my head up it is like the point where two very different worlds meet. Up the entry trail is a busy city street with tense drivers rushing to get somewhere while they talk on their cell phones. Down on the trail is a flowing creek cloaked in lush greenery snuggled in a quiet solitude.

I quickly return to the quiet and peace of the trail. Looking down on the water here I notice that it appears still at this point with strange little ripples on the surface giving it a look of an ancient cracked mirror.

I always enjoy the return trip on a new trail much more than the trip out. I am no longer a stranger on this trail and I can take as long as I want going back. I now know about how far or how long my return trip will take.

The first flower I am greeted by is a columbine. It is a beautiful flower with an orange striped base coming out into a deep red trumpet. This is the type of flower that might attract hummingbirds. (At least I think it might)

Next I come back by a railing and I notice a lone daisy shaped flower. Somehow it had clung to the banking while all the greenery around it was ripped from the banks of the creek. Tenaciously the yellow flower stood alone on the desolate bank.

Then I saw the most beautiful flower. It is most certainly a flower I do not know or recognize. It has a center that is a circle like a black eyed susan. Around the edges where there should be petals are thirteen little red florets the shape of trumpets. Each floret has yellow edges at the tips of the four petals that form it. The center is green with little fingers of red sticking out. Amazing little flower, it is.

I notice the greenery that adorns the edge of the bridge at Wake Forest Rd. I hadn’t notice the vines in the other direction.

I notice a path that goes away from the trail. I take it to see where it goes. It leads to what I believe is Calibre Chase Dr. This would be consistent with where it should be. This is a very short little walk.

From here I followed the trail back across Crabtree Creek bearing left at the trail intersection and back to Kiwanis Park.

One thing I did observe is that as the trail reached Atlantic Ave. there are a number of places where Kudzu is beginning to attack the forest edge. I have seen this on a couple of trails in the greenway system now. This might be something the Parks folks could get the “friends of” trail groups to start tackling. It would require some training as vines are easy to eliminate but there are many beautiful vines in the system (like wisteria) that do no real harm and enhance the forest edges and depths.

This is a fabulous trail, even in its damaged condition. Fully restored it will be a very pleasant trail particularly for inner city hikers and strollers.

Recommendations:

Bikers: Limited trail in length but can be used to get from one side of Crabtree to the other.

Hikers: Excellent and easy short hike. Nice wooded hike on paved surface. Round trip is about 1.8 to 2 miles along creek beds as currently open.

Older Walkers: Excellent. Trail is flat and well paved with benches for resting about every quarter mile.

Very Young Walkers: Excellent. Trail is flat and well paved with benches for resting about every quarter mile.

Baby Strollers: Excellent. Trail is flat and well paved with benches for resting about every quarter mile. There is a playground and facilities at Kiwanis Park.

Roller Skaters: Okay. The trail is flat with some bridges and minimal hills.

Picnickers: Excellent. Park has a number of picnic tables and facilities at Kiwanis Park.

Runners: Okay. Trail is on the short side and quite flat. Trail would be best for a short jog in its current condition.

Birders: Not many open spots on the trail for viewing. There were a few small birds in the woods, but they were difficult to see. Trail is most open in areas where there are cars.

Students: If given a knowledgeable guide this trail has vegetation, bridges and greenway concepts that can be taken in.

Flora enthusiats: This trail offers both tree and smaller plant life in a number of settings.