May 21 Reedy Creek Trail

My ride today starts at Umstead State Park. The park has 13 miles of multi use trails. Beginning on Turkey Creek Trail, I made my way 3 miles to the Reedy Creek Greenway. My skinny tires had a tough time on Turkey Creek Trail. There were steep inclines and declines and a sandy surface. Descending was difficult as I had to ride the brake hard. 

Finally at the greenway, I enjoyed the paved surface and long downhill to start. I followed this to the very pretty campus of Meredith College where the trail ends. At this point it connects with Rocky Branch Trail and heads to downtown Raleigh. Turning around here, I had my sights set on something I had passed along the way - The NC Museum of Art.

Retracing my ride back to the museum, the trail crosses over I-440 on this really cool pedestrian bridge.

Art at the Meredith College Bridge

Trails everywhere

I had no idea there was a museum here, much less one made for bicycling through. The grounds adjacent to the actual museum building, are filled with bike and walking trails, interspersed with sculptures. The one above is being built now by a Seagrove potter who fired these 178 ceramic pillars in his kiln. 

Brightly colored fabric art caught my eye. It was a gift from James and Ann Goodnight, as are many of the others.

There were some sculptures you could walk in or on. And some which had some functioning purpose, like the promenade deck I sat on to eat my lunch, while gazing out at the scenes above and below. I heard a voice nearby and noticed a gal with a phone in hand, had hung a hammock to sit out here. 

After visiting most of the sculptures and riding the circular pathways, I find myself back on the Reedy Creek Greenway heading to Umstead. I stopped briefly to read an Eagle Scout project for a prairie restoration project.

Once at the park, I rode the main trail back to the parking area. This was a much better ride that my earlier one. The road was straight and the surface in better condition.

Stopping at the Visitor Center is always part of my agenda. I did not know the history of Umstead State Park, so I was very surprised to learn in 1934 the federal and state governments bought 5000 acres of marginal land to create a recreation park - Crabtree Creek Recreation Area. The CCC and the WPA built some of the infrastructure. In 1943, the state purchased the property for $1 and renamed it Crabtree Creek State Park. In 1950, segregation came to NC State Parks and two parks existed, Crabtree Creek State Park for whites and Reedy Creek State Park for blacks. In 1955 Crabtree State Park was renamed for Governor William B Umstead. Then in 1966, the two state parks merged together.