Norris Bunch: Richland Creek Trail Hike

It's been a while since our family has gone on a hike without the cub scouts. We used to go on hikes or bike rides just about every other week but for the better part of a year we haven't gotten out much. A week or so ago I was looking at Google Maps and noticed a trail that cut through Schenck Memorial Forest and ended at the RBC Center. The trail was called Richland Creek Trail.

I had never heard of Richland Creek Trail and had difficulty finding any information about it. The trail appeared to go from Umstead State Park (state owned) into Raleigh (city trails) then into Schenck Forest (state owned) back into Raleigh (city trails) under Wade Avenue (interstate-sized road) and eventually ending at the RBC Center. Since the trail crossed between state and city property there wasn't one definitive source for information. I wasn't even sure if the trail crossed under Wade Avenue because I didn't remember seeing a bridge or tunnel when driving on it. I also couldn't tell from Google Maps satellite view if there was a bridge or tunnel there since the area was so heavily wooded.

We didn't have any plans this past weekend and looking to get out hiking again I suggested this trail to Aimee. She was up for it. Prior to heading out on Sunday we did another Google search for the trail and came across a terrific blog post about the trail that was written this past Thursday. How timely. It had pictures, pointed out some of the gotchas and described some of the interesting challenges. After reading this post about the adventure ahead we were excited about the day's hike. We were also interested in doing some geocaching so we loaded the coordinates into our GPS for some caches that were located along the beginning of the hike. We headed out around noon stopping to grab some lunch before arriving at the trailhead.

The beginning of the trail was nice. There was a big Capital Area Greenway sign next to a wide paved trail. So far so good. That ended quickly however with the paved trail ending at a fence just down the hill from the start and the trail continuing along the grass. Good thing we didn't bring the stroller.

Shortly after making our way along the grassy trail we found our first geocache. Andrew managed the GPS and discovered the cache.

The boys had thought ahead and brought some items to trade. Andrew decided to trade for a little stuffed doggie which he gave to Olivia. She carried the doggie for the rest of the hike often telling us how much she loved him. After re-hiding the cache and getting back onto the trail we encountered our first obstacle: a small creek. Fortunately there were many large rocks to step on to cross the creek.

Shortly after crossing the creek we found our next geocache. This had to be the largest cache I have ever seen. Still it was well hidden. Olivia was the keeper of the unit for this one. That made it 2 for 2 with Andrew and Olivia each finding one. Not far from this cache we came to our first tunnel which went under Edwards Mill Road. For a short period we were on paved trail again.

Just after the tunnel the paved path continued onto a bridge that crossed the creek. While this trail looked nice it was to an office complex and was not our trail. Our trail kept going forward off of the pavement and through a clearing in the trees as you can see in the picture below. Just before continuing though we tried to find our third geocache. Alex was in control and unfortunately for him we didn't find it. We tried looking for 15-20 minutes before finally giving up.

The trail from here was nice and wide however there were occasional muddy patches. It had rained several days earlier and I suspect the trail stays muddy for a few days after each rain. The muddy patches were easy enough to walk around and fortunately no one fell in them.

This trail continued for another quarter mile or so before we got to the tunnel under Wade Avenue. From a distance it didn't look so inviting.

As we got closer to it we saw that it was a cool tunnel because it had two parts: one side for the creek and one side for people.

Going under a big highway we knew the tunnel had to be long and it was. Fortunately it was very well lit. There were some patches of water but most of us had hiking shoes on so it was not a problem.

The other side of the tunnel was even cooler than the entrance. The water flowed out as a small waterfall from the creek side of the tunnel.

Once we excited the tunnel we had to cross a small stream. There were several rocks to step on so like our first obstacle, crossing this one was not a problem.

The trail on this side of the highway was just as wide as the other side which was wide enough to drive a car though. Up to this point the trail followed Richland Creek and was probably created as an access road for getting to the storm drains.

The trail was flat and very easy to walk. Unlike the other side which was a grassy trail this side was mostly dirt and leaves. There were some areas of water but not many and were easily walked around.

Along the way we found the Schenck Forest welcome sign. The notice that was printed in the largest letters, and I'm guessing is the most important, was "No Dogs Allowed." I asked Olivia to pose for a picture in front of the sign and she pulled out her new doggie from the first geocache. I guess we were going to break the rules today.

Up until this point the trail went near or under roads and as a result you could hear the noises from the cars. This latest part of the trail was especially noisy because it ran mostly parallel to Wade Avenue. Eventually the trail turned away from the highway and became a narrower, single-track trail. I liked this because the terrain became more interesting. We went up and down hills (small ones), curved with the stream and crossed rocks and roots.

We even crossed a bridge to nowhere. This bridge was almost perpendicular to the trail. I suspect it was moved during a storm at some point. The kids thought it was cool.

After crossing the bridge we were getting close to our half way point. We had planned to walk to Reedy Creek Road then turn around and go back. So far Olivia had walked almost the whole way on our own. This had to be a record for her. We had tried every Jedi mind trick we could think of to convince her to walk but she was getting tired and started to drag behind.

Finally we made it to Reedy Creek Road and we could celebrate because we were half way! We thought it was about 2 miles (from the blog post above) however Aimee's phone had it at 2.6 miles and my phone had it at 3.1 miles.

We rested a bit and then headed back. It was going to get dark (and cold) soon so we need to get moving. Plus the boys had wanted to check out the streams along they way. I had told them they could play for a while, time-permitting, on the way back.

The walk back was fairly quick because we carried Olivia for most of it. This gave the boys time to cross the stream in several places. We also tried to find one more geocache but we were unsuccessful again. I think we figured out later where it is but that is a find for another day.

We really enjoyed the hike on Richland Creek Trail. For all the years that I have run in Umstead or hiked the trails in the area I didn't know this one existed. It was a pleasant find. The terrain was not difficult and was easy to navigate by the whole family. Since the trail mostly followed the creek there were many nice views of the water flowing over rocks and branches and around bends. I plan to recommend it to the boys' Cub Scout pack as a future hike destination.

The only problem with the hike was knowing how far we went. Depending on who you believe the hike ended up being either 4 miles (blog post from above), 5 miles (Aimee's phone) or 6 miles (my phone). I suspect the true distance is between 4 and 5 miles. I plan to run this trail one day and will carry my Garmin along to give a fourth (and hopefully not differing) measurement.

Here are some additional pictures from the hike: