This post was originally posted on March 6, 2008.
The destruction of the bike trails described by Joe Miller is not just significant for these bandit bikers: all users of the greenway between Atlantic Avenue and Capital Boulevard should mourn the loss of this old farm site, whose naked hillsides (and future clapboard townhouses) are easily visible from the greenway. Riparian buffer is the term for the ecological value of these wooded areas contiguous with the greenway: the trees absorb rain as well as pollution, shade and cool the waters of Crabtree. Of course, the wildlife appreciates wooded areas next to the creek as well.
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This is a rich and variegated section of greenway with lots of interesting features in addition to the old farm site. If you park off Capital Blvd. at its intersection with Yonkers Road, you will have to jump the barrier that tells you this problematic section of greenway deck needs shoring up. The risk seems minimal, and I’ve done it many times. From this deck you can see the naked hillsides, and then follow that section of greenway as it heads toward Atlantic Avenue.
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A view from the greenway of what Joe Miller describes as the mohawk look.
Above is the view from the new development at the south end of Six Forks.
This lovely path begins at the base of the hillside deck and heads straight toward the southbound ramp off the beltline for Capital Boulevard. If this stretch survives the development, that will be significant for this greenway section.
From the west end of the problematic deck, you are looking toward Atlantic Avenue. This stretch parallels Hodges Road and looks across Crabtree at the old site for the State Farmer’s Market. Below you see a bog visible to the right of this stretch.
Now just across this bog we have an interesting situation. Several fellows have set up a tent just behind the Atlantic Ave marsh area and are creating quite a trash pile nearby. The trash is visible from the greenway, but won’t be long as things green in. I have observed these camps and also the urban “nesting sites” downtown and under bridges for many years and almost never gotten bad vibes from them. But that is some nasty trash! We’ll end the post with the sunset cattails which are literally within sight of the tent and trash. Be careful out there!
The marsh below has been short of water since well before the drought. It appears to me that the greenway construction changed the drainage somehow. What you’re looking at used to stay under two feet of water most of the year. I guess the incoming water and sedimentation will re-adjust things over time. Anybody know?
raleighnaturalist
The Raleigh Naturalist 
[…] Hot Spring Critter Sightings! Filed under: Central Raleigh, Greenways & Parks, Nature Lore — Tags: owls, sliders — raleighnaturalist @ 11:12 pm This owl swooped down and landed on a branch directly above Crabtree Creek as I walked on the high greenway that traverses a steep hill off Capital Boulevard. This is just east of the sad section that has recently had its woody buffer appropriated by bulldozers. […]
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