Mountain Bike Enthusiasts - New to Area

For some of you that are new to the area, one of the most scenic areas to mountain bike is in Umstead State Park in Raleigh. It is my favorite place to go to get away from it all. I start heading that way about this time of year (not too cold and not too many people utilizing the trails). A friend of mine encouraged me to to take up this activity a few years ago and I have to say I enjoy it very much.

This park is centrally located and has approximately 20 miles of biking trails. Some of them challenging (hills). I usually pick up the trail at the Crabtree Park entrance off of Dynasty Dr/Rd. in Cary. It can be challenging to find a parking place now since they have banned parking on the main street. But this is also a walking trail, so watch out for the runners, rollerbladers and folks walking their dogs. It is a winding trail alongside a creek and behind some neighborhoods that open to Crabtree Lake. A few places to sit and take in the view along the way. This trail connects to Umstead Park's biking trail. I prefer to bike in the morning when it isn't as hot or humid and also prefer the weekdays rather than the weekends as it gets pretty crowded. A great link to view the trails of this park is located at http://www.trianglemtb.com/umstead.php. If you are looking for a town house in the area, a great one for consideration is the "Townes of Umstead Park". You can access the trail not far from this location.

I've been to others, such as; Blue Jay Point, Falls Lake - the one off of Six Forks Rd (but you have to watch when you go on that one since Hunters are out there at times), Harris Lake, Lake Johnson, and Crabtree Park. Still my favorite is Umstead Park.