family friendly bike trails/paths in Cary/Apex (better, council)

[RFMan]

If you find the ATT too un-challenging, ride it during a long downpour which starts when you are miles away from your car

[NewUser]

Originally Posted by Dire Wolf

Singletrack MTB trails seem a big leap from a paved greenway.

I agree. While there might be 8 miles of singletrack at Harris Lake, only the beginners' loop would be suitable for a 6yr old, and even that is stretching it. My 7 year old has been riding a bike since age 3 1/2, and I can't see even taking him on the intermediate loops. I can do the beginners' loop in under 5 minutes, so it can't be more than a mile long.

[cdrr]

The triangle is THE WORST place for family-friendly cycling and I say this with a vengeance, since they proclaim to be cycling-friendly cities. Not only are 90% of the cycling paths on unfriendly roads with blind or uncaring drivers, the so-called 'greenways' are 'connected' by crossing hi-speed roads which constantly make us get off and on.

I am surprised more parents and cyclists aren't upset and complaining about this farce of a place that calls itself cycling-friendly. I bicycled once on the main road in Harrison with blinking lights in front and rear and got honked by the effing friendly drivers here.

TrailLink is the worst site you can look up, they are cahoots with the cities that wanna portray themselves as such, google maps is your best bet.

I cant take ANY of the longer trails with my kids coz of this and am constrained to be within a park.

[Myghost]

Harrison in Cary? Not family friendly, and nobody would claim otherwise.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Sounds like you used some offbeat app and got stuck.

ATT is 23 miles with very few busy crossings as you near dt Durham
Nuese river trail, 33 miles, I think
Walnut Creek is good.
Crabtree creek, good.
There are others.

I would agree that ANY 4-lane road with an unpainted lane is not bike friendly, and I would not take kids on busy roads when there are so many better choices.

There are something like 200-300 miles of dedicated greenway. It takes a little effort and research to plan a good ride for kids.

[ncdust]

Centrally located Lake Johnson Park does allow cycling on its paved trails: https://goo.gl/maps/jhxWmYyv9mE2

There are two "halves" of the trail - a flat part and quite hilly alternative. The flat part might be a good riding skill developer for young children. And, there are restroom facilities.

[cdrr]

Originally Posted by Myghost

Harrison in Cary? Not family friendly, and nobody would claim otherwise.

I didn't mean Harrison to be family friendly, its obviously a main road, didnt ride with family there. I was making a lopp around Umstead.
It has bicycle lanes but how on earth are we supposed to turn left on Maynard ??
Cycling around town on sidewalks is a pain in the neck specially with the horrible (un-synchronized) road signal light system in the triangle.
Cycling anywhere in the triangle, even ATT is a royal pain with all the crossing of roads we have to do.
Many have suggested Neuse, too far for a daily ***.
All the Crreks you mention also have crossings.

There are something like 200-300 miles of dedicated greenway. It takes a little effort and research to plan a good ride for kids.

Even the so-called dedicated greenways make you cross hi-speed roads that make you stop and walk it across. Pretty stupid if you ask me.

I know this thread is about family-friendly trails, and there are plenty of them but with bigger kids it becomes tough to do longer trips. My bigger issue is we cant really commute on the darn roads on a bicycle without the fear of losing our life any second.

[cdrr]

Originally Posted by ncrkd

Centrally located Lake Johnson Park does allow cycling on its paved trails: https://goo.gl/maps/jhxWmYyv9mE2

There are two "halves" of the trail - a flat part and quite hilly alternative. The flat part might be a good riding skill developer for young children. And, there are restroom facilities.

Johnson is the best among them, but here too, the pavement is atrociously bad, people wander and dont keep right and let their kids wander without control. They look at families of cyclists as if we dont belong in the park.

[Dire Wolf]

Here's some suggestions for long stretches of area greenway without major fast/busy/wide road crossings:

1) Neuse trail - this is the king of riding without having to worry about cars. Almost no crossings and they are minor
2) American Tobacco Trail from O'Kelly Chapel to the southern terminus near Apex. Some crossings, but not super busy roads
3) Black Creek Green way at Maynard through Umstead then along Reedy Creek to NCMA then House Creek Greenway to near Crabtree Mall and back. Blue Ridge Road at the NCMA you will have to wait at the traffic light to cross, but other than that you can just ride for the most part. When you get to bottom of hill at House Creek and Blue Ridge (near the mall), turn around.
4) Walnut Creek trail at Sunnybrook at the softball fields to Neuse, north to Crabtree Creek greenway, then Crabtree Creek to Raleigh Rd. and back. If you don't mind crossing Raleigh or Sunnybrook, you can extend this quite a ways.
5) By year end when the White Oak extension is complete, Davis Dr. Elem/Middle school to ATT along White Oak and then either S to Apex terminus or N to O'kelly chapel (or if you don't crossing there, not bad crossing all the way to Southpoint). There's just the lightly trafficked Jenks Carpenter blinking light crossing.

[Myghost]

I've been thinking about your posts a lot lately. It sounds like you are very frustrated, and that is understandable. Let me try to add a little context. Not really a justification, just an explanation.

Originally Posted by cdrr

Even the so-called dedicated greenways make you cross hi-speed roads that make you stop and walk it across. Pretty stupid if you ask me.

I know this thread is about family-friendly trails, and there are plenty of them but with bigger kids it becomes tough to do longer trips. My bigger issue is we cant really commute on the darn roads on a bicycle without the fear of losing our life any second.

Originally Posted by Dire Wolf

Here's some suggestions for long stretches of area greenway without major fast/busy/wide road crossings:

1) Neuse trail - this is the king of riding without having to worry about cars. Almost no crossings and they are minor
2) American Tobacco Trail from O'Kelly Chapel to the southern terminus near Apex. Some crossings, but not super busy roads
3) Black Creek Green way at Maynard through Umstead then along Reedy Creek to NCMA then House Creek Greenway to near Crabtree Mall and back. Blue Ridge Road at the NCMA you will have to wait at the traffic light to cross, but other than that you can just ride for the most part. When you get to bottom of hill at House Creek and Blue Ridge (near the mall), turn around.
4) Walnut Creek trail at Sunnybrook at the softball fields to Neuse, north to Crabtree Creek greenway, then Crabtree Creek to Raleigh Rd. and back. If you don't mind crossing Raleigh or Sunnybrook, you can extend this quite a ways.
5) By year end when the White Oak extension is complete, Davis Dr. Elem/Middle school to ATT along White Oak and then either S to Apex terminus or N to O'kelly chapel (or if you don't crossing there, not bad crossing all the way to Southpoint). There's just the lightly trafficked Jenks Carpenter blinking light crossing.

First, there have been some really good recommendations. Also, in Cary you can find some "bike paths" that are really just signed routes in neighborhoods. Some do cross some big-ish roads, but that's just how it is.

A little background: I'm not sure where you are from, but if I had to guess, it's out west? Here, the infrastructure is older, and much of the city was laid down before much thought was given to bike paths and greenways. While it kinda sucks that that is the case, I prefer to be thankful for what we have, rather than focusing on what we don't. Not trying to be a jerk, it just "is what it is". Raleigh is much better off than most similar cities. Charlotte has nowhere near the greenways we have, because they were even more established when trails started going in.

About the crossings: Yeah, unlike the west, we have to deal with stuff already in place. We have very limited funding, so often they will choose to cross a road with a crosswalk, rather than build a bridge, as it allows money to go to miles of other trail. Exceptions are crossings at Southpoint (over I-40) and near NCMA at Merideth College. There is another one ("the bridge to nowhere") over US1/64 in Cary, and I understand there are two more already in the long-term plans. They will help A LOT.

I guess what I'm saying is to try to understand what IS out there, and also to understand why it is as it is. Being angry or frustrated may be justified, but it doesn't help. If you want more greenways, follow Sig Hutchinson for Wake County on FB, and vote for him on election day. He's very pro-greenway.

FYI, there are a lot of projects in the works. Cary actually has a Greenway committee, one of my good riding buddies serves (no, I will not share the name).

Things in the works:
-Completion of White Oak to get you off of Mac Arthur and off of Waldo Rood, and accross Davis
-Completion of White Oak to get you all the way to ATT without being on the road
-Completion of Black Creek to get you off of Dynasty
-Completion of link between Black Creek at Lake Crabtree, all the way to Davis, getting you into RTP (for commute)
-Completion of roadside along Davis, getting you off of road, and to above mentioned greenways
-Far future, bridge to get you accross US1/64 at Regency park, connecting into that greenway system
-which will eventually get you from Cary to Walnut Creek.


^When you put all this together, you will be able to ride from Durham to Raleigh, to Wake Forest, to Clayton, to Knightdale with uninterrupted greenway. We are about 80-90% there already, I do it it all the time. Soon after, Apex will be linked in, and eventually Holly Springs and Sanford.

RTP is still a bit disconnected, but coming online soon.


Yes, there are a lot of gaps in connectivity, but my understanding is the short-term focus is to connect those gaps, and the bigger picture has a really good network. They will (I'm sure) continue to deal with difficult crossings, but alas, your kids will be grown, and I'll be on a motorized trike before it's all done.


If you don't already have one, get a Cary Greenway Map. They also have the neighborhood bike-paths I mentioned. They too are not perfect, but the more you ride, the more you'll discover little shortcuts and connectors, and will find new ways to connect safely. I've logged 10's of thousands of miles in Cary, and still find new and better ways to avoid busy roads. Some of the MOST FUN you can have with your kids is to go and explore, and take some chances on routes, knowing some won't work out. Just this weekend, I found a hidden trail connecting Davis Drive to Carpenter (community). Totally had no idea where I would end up, and was delighted when I found out. Brought me back to my childhood, on my department store bike. Your kids will LOVE that adventure.

Welcome to the area, I hope you find more of what you're looking for, and I am happy to answer questions if I can be of help.

[cdrr]

Thanks for the detailed responses, I am from the mid-west, where there are hardly any cycle trails, but thats not the point, I consider myself a local, having been here for 20 years.

My 12-teen yr old son and I are going to try each of the routes you kind people have so meticulously detailed.

I understand there are a lot of nice trails here but they are disjointed, and my main chagrin is the triangle calling itself cycle-friendly but just in bits and pieces and the rest of the time you are risking your life 90% of the time on roads or forced to take the car to a trail.

I do have the Cary Bike Map, which also misleads us into trails that connect you using main thoroughfares.

I understand money has a lot to do with connecting these trails, and I am thankful for what we have, but my point is do not lie to the people and put 'bike-friendly' signs everywhere - when we aren't; are you listening, Cary ? Hardly a week goes by when we read of another cyclist getting killed on the roads.

My other chagrin with these trails, is the horrific gravel for the most part, sometimes loaded with sand that could easily send you off the road, dunno how much longer my tires will take those sharp stones.