Shoot the gap for a good ride

Sometimes it's more fun to explore a greenway before it's completed.

Last week I called Vic Lebsock, Raleigh's greenway planner, for an update on the Walnut Creek greenway. Slowly, a six-mile stretch along its namesake creek -- between Worthdale Park to the east and Lake Wheeler Road to the west -- has been coming together.

For a year now, I've been riding the stretches that are open, detouring around those that aren't. The detours have become fewer; I was hoping they were now gone.

"There's a gap at Eliza Pool Park," Lebsock told me when I called. "It's contingent upon the road widening and repaving project on Fayetteville Street."

A gap? I tried to picture what that meant. A gaping hole due to a missing bridge? Or maybe a small hiccup requiring a quick hike-a-bike?

I rolled out my trusty Trek 820 mountain bike-cum-commuter to investigate.

Eventually, the Walnut Creek Greenway will run from Lake Johnson in West Raleigh to the Neuse River. The main missing links at this point are a stretch through N.C. State's Centennial Campus (construction appears to have begun) and the section from Worthdale Park through Walnut Creek Park and on to the Neuse River. (There, it will connect with a greenway scheduled to run the length of the Neuse in Wake County.) Bond money is available for at least a portion of this stretch.

To make the trip more interesting, I started from the western terminus at Lake Johnson. For several years the lake has had a 3.5-mile greenway encircling it.

From the Lake Johnson spillway, a 1.2-mile stretch of greenway heads east along the creek to Trailwood Drive. Here, the greenway will connect with the Centennial Campus greenway, continuing down Walnut Creek to Lake Raleigh then picking up Walnut Creek again on its passage down to Lake Wheeler Road.

For now, take a left on Trailwood then a quick right on Avent Ferry up to Varsity Drive (then cut through Centennial Campus as such: right on Varsity, left on Main Campus, left on Oval Drive, right on Centennial Parkway). Centennial Parkway is a nice mile and a half downhill; take either the parkway itself or adjoining sidewalk.

At Lake Wheeler Road, you encounter virgin greenway -- a fresh, 10-foot-wide swath that winds through lush bottomland forest.

I was taken by the escape of the moment, but cognizant, too, that the Eliza Pool "gap" was just ahead. After 1.3 miles, the pavement ended, T'ing into a dirt path.

I looked left: the path appeared to go nowhere for a while. Ah, but to the right: A quick climb and there was Eliza Pool Park, home of the Eliza Pool Gap.

A less-daunting gap I can't imagine.

I zipped up a small bank and went right on the paved path that circles this small park. On the opposite side, I cut across a patch of grass and went right on paved-but-barely Fayetteville Street, momentarily rounded a curve and was at South Saunders Street. Directly across five quiet lanes the greenway picks up and runs unobstructed to Worthdale Park.

For those of you looking for a long, mostly greenway bike ride with minimal disruption, this is a good route. From the Lake Johnson Boathouse to Worthdale Park is 13 miles -- a 26-mile round trip. One major annoyance: Avent Ferry (a sturdy hill, iffy drivers, though there is a sidewalk).

Other than that, a good ride. Even with the Eliza Pool Gap.