When I moved to Raleigh our real estate agent has told us about the Greenway, but when I purchased…read moremy house I had no idea we lived so close to an entrance, or how much I would enjoy this wonderful place. It is not often a government gets something right, but in the case of the Greenway they nailed it in my opinion. Laid out nicely along the Neuse River. Trash cans set up so people can dispose of their garbage. A great place to jog, walk or ride your bike. I wish more cyclists would announce themselves when coming up from behind, but hey what would the world be without assholes. Enjoy a relaxing couple of ours and take a hike. Relatively flat and you can go as far as you like.

Great place to bike, run, or walk! It was so beautiful and kept me entertained during my entire…read moreride. I also appreciate how easy it is to follow because I get lost easily. I parked at the baseball fields off of buffalo road and headed up towards the dams at falls lake, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The trail is super wide, so there's plenty of room to pass safely. Make sure to pack you own water, I didn't see anywhere to fill up.

Enjoyed finding and driving over Falls Lake Dam. It's a nice little area, with parking, a…read moreplayground, a fishing area, and even a family cemetery. I found a geocache there, to boot!

Falls Dam and the greenway trails around it are a great and quick escape to nature. In minutes…read moreyou'll be away from the traffic and the stress of your particular day. I hope plans to turn this into a white water park do not come about. Let nature be nature. We need it more than it needs us.

I have been wanting to go to Fantasy Lake since last year and I finally got to go…read more We reserved a 2 hour slot and got there 25mins before our start time to get changed and settled. The obstacle course is really fun for both kids and adults. The slides were my favorite part. They also have scuba diving on the end side of the lake. The only negative I will call out is that they don't have a water fountain or a filling station. I get that they allow outside food and drinks but for an outdoor water park, having a water fountain/filling station is a bare minimum.

A couple of staff members were unnecessarily rude to me, my girlfriend, and our child during our…read morevisit. At one point, a blonde female staff member approached my girlfriend in a very confrontational manner while we were simply saying goodbye to family members on the dock without wearing life jackets. We understood the life-jacket policy, but the way the situation was handled was disrespectful and could have been communicated much more professionally. Later, as we were leaving, we initially walked up one side of the ramp. We had already washed the sand off our feet and changed, so we did not want to walk back through the sand, get dirty again, and have to wait in line to rinse off a second time. We walked back down so we could leave through the other side. A young blonde male staff member stopped us simply to tell us that we could not be on the dock without life jackets, and his tone was extremely rude. I explained that we were aware of the rules and were only trying to leave through the other side because we had already cleaned the sand off and did not want to go back through the rinse line. Instead of simply acknowledging that and allowing us to leave, he continued to speak to me and my family in a disrespectful and unprofessional manner. What made the situation even more frustrating was that two older women were standing at the end of the same dock without life jackets, and neither staff member addressed them. That inconsistency made us feel singled out and raised concerns about whether the rules were being enforced equally for all guests. This business needs to take a serious look at its staffing and customer-service expectations. Some employees appeared to lack the communication skills necessary to interact appropriately with customers. We also encountered staff members who were not welcoming upon arrival, appeared disengaged in their responsibilities, and created the impression that certain guests or demographics were being treated differently than others. I am not normally someone who leaves negative reviews for businesses, but this was one of the most disappointing staff experiences I have encountered. Families should be able to visit, follow the rules, and still be treated with basic courtesy and respect. Based on our experience, I would not recommend bringing my family back.

Love this park. The trails are well signed, great bathrooms and parking. When you walk around the…read morelake you get great pics and see the turtles sunning. You can find some fun surprises on the trails. Very safe atmosphere.

Durant Nature Park is a stone's throw from my neighborhood but I have never been to it before…read morebecause the access roads were all gravel. Now that there is a paved entrance I decided to check it out. There is a pond for fishing and a boathouse, picnic tables, a few buildings used for educational purposes and many meandering gravel trails. To me, there is not adequate maps on the entry boards to show the trails, especially whether they are end to end or loops, and there was nothing that I saw indicating directions back to parking. With an elderly dog in the heat I ended up carrying her for a good distance as we used Find My Park to get back. Maybe there is more useful info on a website but to just pop over and wing it, it was not as pleasing to me as, for instance, the Falls Dam trails or Blue Jay Point.

I started coming to the Beaver Dam entrance of Falls Lake since there is a public beach, as well as…read moreaccess to the lake where you can open water swim. I have been practicing some open water swimming here. It is populated but has plenty of parking, making it feel family friendly and safe. On warmer weekend days I've seen families come out and have a BBQ. It's the perfect spot to enjoy the summer if you do not have access to a pool or can't make it down to the beach.

It's always nice going out to the Falls Lake area to hike. There are many trails for that and for…read moremountain biking too. Some of the trails are easy while others more challenging. Some off shoot trails go along the shorelines and people come out here to fish or put a kayak in the water. There are plenty of birds and other wildlife to watch in the lake areas. Just a historical note. The Falls Lake area is part of the Neuse River system and is the main supply of water for Raleigh & Durham. It was created in the 70s to supply drinking water for a quickly expanding area of the state. Many valley, farms, and pasture lands were flooded to create it. In times of drought it's not uncommon for the top of an old barn to be seen in the water.

This section of the Neuse River Trail can be jumped on and off in a number of places. There's…read morepublic parking up by the dam, or if you're lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with a connecting trail, you can walk or bike to it. Once you are on it, it's easy to forget that ever how far you go, you have to turn around and go back. This is a linear trail through nature along the Neuse and it's really easy to lose yourself in the miles!

Great place to run, fish, hike, skate board, walk, play, bike, and just have fun. This trail…read moreconnects all the way down to crabtree, and out to Knightdale. I don't know how many miles this trail is going to be when it is done, but I have heard over 30 miles. I go here 3 to 4 days a week to run, there is never many people here so no worries about being run into by others. Here is the web site to get more info about this trail http://www.raleighnc.gov/arts/content/PRecDesignDevelop/Articles/CapitalAreaGreenwayTrailSystem.html Look for the Neuse River Trail map on the right side of this web page

We visited E. Carroll Joyner Park for Easter and brought Luna, along with my nephew for a little…read moreEaster egg hunt. The park is very pet-friendly, with plenty of open space and trails for dogs to enjoy. While there were a few other pups around, I have to say--Luna was definitely the cutest dog (and bunny!) at the park that day.

This park is large if you walk down each trail or you can do a quick loop. I walked here this…read moremorning and got in 4 miles and after lunch just 1 mile. The best part is all the green surrounding you. There was a nice breeze today and made it enjoyable even with the heat and humidity. The trails are good for dogs, stopping and sitting along the way and even picnics as well as photo opportunities. There are a few restrooms and even a place to buy water if you forgot yours. Additionally, parking is adequate, but Im sure at peak times then maybe not. So what are you waiting for, get your shoes on and head over to E Carroll Joyner Park to get some fresh air and maybe even some exercise. Don't forget, it is pet friendly as long as it's not an alligator.

I think it's the coolest thing that NC has a cross-state trail that allows you to experience the…read morevast range of natural landscapes the state has to offer. This trail, as the name claims, goes from mountains to sea (the trail is best known as the MST). It's cool enough that the state has all of this, even better that a trail connects them. You could hike this 1,175 mile trail from the highest point east of the Mississippi (Mt. Mitchell) down to sea-level at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The trail passes through several state parks, national forests and national parks, not to mention some of the most significant urban centers in the state. There are paddle sections, dirt trails and paved roads - all manner of surfaces. The trail isn't even truly considered complete yet, but you can piece it together as you go. The idea has existed since the 70s and was officially added to the state park system - and the passport program - in 2000. The trail is about half the length of the AT - which it intersects at the beginning, by the way - but fits entirely in the state. It gives you a good idea of just how long it is. I actually only found out about this trail recently despite its age. This is no surprise, as it passes through the north part of the state and I've spent my entire life in the two largest cities it doesn't pass through in the southern part of the state. Somehow this just makes the idea even more novel to me. If you don't know about this trail, read up! Get out there and hike it in one of the 10 state parks it touches. Or, chances are it even goes through your city or town already and, like me, you just didn't know. It will be cool to connect with a piece of Earth that connects the entire length of the state.

An 18 segment trail from Clingmans dome to Jockey's ridge State Park. Segment 1-5 is in the…read moremountains, segment 6-10 is Piedmont, and segment 11-18 is the costal plains and OuterBanks. There is an alternate route from 11A to 16A that is 170 mile paddle route down the Neuse River. Each segments distance varies. Levels of difficulty vary from strenuous to easy. What a fantastic way to see NC. I have not Thru hiked the trail. I have only done portions of segments. I am planning on doing whole segments to complete the entire 1200 mile distance. As well as the paddle portion. Clingmans dome is the second highest point on the east coast at 6,643 feet and what an amazing view. You will cross over Mt Mitchell which is the highest point on the east coast at 6,684 feet. To Jockey's Ridge Dune the largest and tallest active dune in the eastern United States. There are section that take you down paved roads to reconnect with the trail and a couple ferry rides in the outer banks. Places to camp if you do multi day trip, but plan your stops accordingly and research the trail angels for each segment. Explore what NC has to offer, even small sections with-in a segment. And just maybe we will see you on the trail or river. Happy Hiking :-)

After consuming two beers and needing a bit of a walk, I was here at the nature preserve for a bit…read more It's over 150 acres with a lake, trails and some fields. Once parked and starting down a trail, it was fabulous to be away from civilization and noise and just enjoying nature. I guess that's the idea, right? I had a very leisurely stroll, a few friendly waves at other people enjoying the park, and enjoyed myself. [Review 2434 of 2024 - 3890 in North Carolina - 23447 overall]

This nature preserve is located just off Falls of Neuse yet feels miles away from city noise and…read moretraffic. Kudos to the late Dr. Wilkerson for having the vision to preserve the natural habitat of her home place. There are a number of loop trails, an education center and programs, plenty of parking, restrooms, picnic shelter, gardens, pond, turtles, deer, birds, helpful park staff, and is leashed dog friendly. A great place to spend some time getting exercise and fresh air in a beautiful natural setting.

My sister and I brought my 5 year old niece to Blue Jay Point to play on the playground. There's…read moresome construction underway, but everything in the playground area was still accessible. Parking was plentiful, with a decent sized lot. They have two play structures (a tot lot for little kids and a kids lot for bigger kids), a sand pit, and swings. Their water fountain also has a bottle refill station built in, which was a nice touch. I also took a walk through the woods behind the playground on the Laurel Loop Trail, a quick 0.2 mile loop that takes less than 10 minutes and leads to a nice view of the lake. Great spot!

Looks very promising but currently under major renovation construction. Parts of the park are…read moreclosed down not useable. Noise and dust everywhere. It will be open this summer so I'm going to try again!