Over Memorial Day weekend, we headed out to Buffaloe Road Athletic Park to run along the Neuse River Trail and then have some playground time back at the park. Unfortunately, the playground was closed for resurfacing so our short run turned into a much longer run and lucky for us the girls didn’t mind too much.
Buffaloe Road Athletic Park is located at 5812 Buffaloe Rd in east Raleigh. We parked in the parking lot adjacent to the playground and headed out on the nearby trail. With little signage to go by, we ran along the wooden boardwalk that dead ended at a small stream. After getting turned around, we found a paved trail in the park and followed it along the perimeter of the park towards the aquatic center entrance. We continued following the greenway signs, crossed the road before getting to the aquatic center main building, and finally found the Neuse River Trail after a few more right hand turns! Whew, we had a mile (mostly uphill) under our belts already! When you see the huge “traffic circle” feature in the trail, you know you’re there. For future reference, we’ll park closer to the aquatic center if we need access to the greenway.
We turned right heading south onto the Neuse River Trail and we shortly came upon the 11.5 mile marker and a large bridge that crossed the Neuse River. It had rained a lot in Raleigh over the weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend, so the water levels were still pretty high and the river was flowing fast, which made for great toddler conversations.
There was quite a good bit of foot and bike traffic along the way so it was nice to see so many people using the greenway. This portion of the greenway has a good variety of elevation – there are several flats parts mixed with some hilly parts. We made several stops along the way for toddler nature potty stops and to admire the high water levels and nice houses across the river. We even made it all the way south to where some good friends live across the river; even though we couldn’t see their house through the dense forest, our GPS showed where we were in comparison to their house so that was neat! When looking back over the COR greenway map, we ran until just north of greenway parking #44 (2894 Abington Dr).
The run home felt much shorter with several less stops than the way out. When we arrived back into Buffaloe Road Park, we followed signs to the athletic park instead of to the aquatic center. With this option, we ran along the northern perimeter of the park and got to witness the massiveness of the baseball fields. When we got back to our car, we were pooped! Ashley made a final pit stop in the restroom facilities near the closed playground and then we headed out for some well deserved lunch. I look forward to taking the girls back to the park later this summer when the playground surface is finished.
More Resources:
Thumbs up: views along the greenway, condition of the greenway, photo ops, having playground and running options in one spot (despite playground being closed)
Thumbs down: no mention of playground being closed on COR website, lack of signage to greenway from playground
