Keeping your conscience on the Swamp Rabbit Trail
The Rails to Trails conversion of the Swamp Rabbit Trail has been a great success. Perhaps it has been too successful. There are so many people enjoying the converted railway along the Reedy River it has caused some issues with a section crossing a railroad track.
Because of this the trail has been “closed” for a particular section. Of course, what happens in most cases is that people are ignoring the notices and continuing along their way. That might not bother some folks, but if you find your conscience bothering you about disobeying the warning, there is a way to continue on the trail without too much of a detour.
You can check out the route in the following video. You’ll find a map in the video along with a drive along the route so you can see exactly what you’ll see. I’m pretty sure most cyclists are aware of this detour, but there may be some recreational users who (because they are unaware of the area roads) do not know this route exists. They reach the notice and aren’t sure what to do. Well, you don’t have to turn around.
Keep enjoying the trail and be sure to keep expressing your enjoyment to the trail creators — and the rail road company. Word is that a solution is being sought. Until that time, I hope this detour will be a help.
Tags: Detour, Swamp Rabbit Trail
Thanks,
I was going to go on the trail then heard parts had been closed so I put the idea aside. Now you have revived it for me.
excellent!
Thanks for the detour info.I rode it about three weeks ago and attempted a detour,but it was too early and I went back about a road too early since I did not know the area. This helps a lot.Cuts the frustration level down greatly.
BTW do you have the Greenville and Apex stage ranges set and corresponding dates set?My daughter lives in Raleigh and I have been promoting you to her and her friends.Depending on the date,I may want to be at the finish.
Glad you posted this. A friend and I did the Swamp Rabbit Trail on Monday, and we did take the detour as we were aware of the route because of Greenville Spinners’ emails. Coming back, we noticed numerous cyclists ignoring the signs and continuing through the train tracks. My friend asked one group if they were going to take the detour or break the law, and she said, “I guess we’re going to break the law.” So some of these people know better. They just don’t want to take the detour. This is the kind of thing that only makes it worse for all of us. But thank you for going to the trouble to put the detour in a video because I am sure there are many people who simply do not know there is a detour route.
Thanks for posting this video! I will put on my blog post of today, I was writing about the Swamp Rabbit Trail today anyways… a little help to spread the word about this!