Drought 2007 Effects on the Crabtree Creek Trail, Raleigh NC

The drought of 2007 has place central North Carolina between storms off the coast and floods in the interior cities. It is not unusual to have a period of clear dry hot weather. That said this has proven to be a difficult year with an excess of hot weather.

Consistent with my love of the greenways, I wondered how the drought was affecting the trails. Crabtree Trail, in the center of a series of connected trails, is one of the easiest trails when it comes to parking and nearby facilities.

On September 10th this trail was all but deserted. It was hot and very dry. I saw no one walking this very open portion of the greenway. Either early morning or dusk would be better times to attempt this trail.

The surface of the trail is always flat and nicely maintained. It lacks shade from Leadmine Road to Creedmoor Road.

The trail has only two benches along its short hot length. One is actually a bus loading bench so technically it has only one Parks and Recreation bench.

The trail follows Crabtree Creek as it flows by the Crabtree Shopping Center. The shopping center has several places where it connects to the trail. This is one nice feature of the trail. Store employees have a great place to work off any excess lunch and trail trekkers have a place to stop to recharge their engines.

Because the trail is open, it is possible to spot an occasional bird and to see a variety of flying insects. Butterflies and dragonflies flutter and zoom across the green grass covered sides of the trail.

There may be a reason the city has never planted trees along this trail, but I don't know what it would be.

As a flat trail near amenities, it is a great place to walk a child in a stroller or practice riding a new bike during the cooler parts of the day.

The trail connects to Crabtree Oak Park Trail at its west end on Creedmoor Road and to the Shelley Lake trails on its east end at Leadmine Road and Glenwood Avenue.

The drought is affecting the vegetation near Crabtree Creek along this trail. Even the green leaves are brittle to the touch. Small vines and fir trees have already either lost their leaves or had them literally die on the vine.

The water level in the creek is down but still flowing anemically as it passes behind the mall on its way to the Neuse River. This is not good news for the many towns south of Raleigh that depend on the Neuse River for drinking water.