How Wake County is trying to extend mountain bike trails into Umstead State Park
Of all the miles of trails that traverse William B. Umstead State Park, not one is available to off-road mountain bikers.
Wake County and the state are working to change that.
The county is negotiating with the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation to extend miles of cycling trails into the park near Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Wake maintains about seven miles of trails on 151 acres of forest it leases from RDU. Expanding that network into the adjacent park could roughly double the mileage, said Chris Snow, Wake County’s director of parks, recreation and open space.
“All we have is a concept plan now, and even that isn’t complete,” Snow said. “We’re hoping to finalize it pretty soon.”
The prospect of new bike trails in Umstead comes as the county faces the possibility of losing about eight miles of heavily used trails in nearby Lake Crabtree County Park. RDU controls the park property and has leased it to the county for a nominal fee for decades.
But the airport says changes in Federal Aviation Administration rules require that it receive “fair market value” for any land it leases to outside businesses or organizations. It’s now looking to lease 136 acres of the park, including most of the trails, to a private developer to “create a unique and innovative entertainment destination.”
Snow says the county has proposed continuing to lease about 73 acres of the park closest to the lake, including the parking lot, docks, playgrounds, picnic areas and about 40 acres of normally dry land that can flood after big storms.
But that lease would not include the bike trails, which are a big reason Lake Crabtree is the county’s most popular park, drawing about 330,000 visitors last fiscal year, Snow said. The park opened in 1988, making it the county’s oldest as well.
“We’ve been on leased land for 40 years now,” Snow said. “We’ve had a really good run. So I’m happy with what we’ve got. I wish it could continue, but I don’t think it’s going to.”
Additional trails are ‘absolutely needed’
Cyclists have long wanted off-road trails in Umstead State Park, a 5,600-acre forest oasis in the heart of the Triangle. The park’s wide multi-use trails lack the jumps, obstacles and rough terrain that mountain bikers seek.
Triangle Off-Road Cyclists or TORC would welcome new trails in Umstead, said Dave Anderson, a member of the group’s board.
“It is absolutely needed,” he said. “Many would see this as a long-awaited, welcome addition.”
The Umstead Coalition, a group of organizations that work to protect the park, has long supported single-track bike trails in the park and is “pleased this is moving forward,” said its chair, Jean Spooner.
But new trails in Umstead are not an adequate substitute for the ones that may be lost at Lake Crabtree, both Spooner and Anderson said. The trails at Lake Crabtree have an amazing variety of features built over the years by volunteers that would be difficult and expensive to reproduce, Anderson said. And both the park and the 151 acres leased by the county are busy.
“We really need to be thinking about how to preserve and expand the trail mileage we have in that area,” he said. “Losing eight miles in Lake Crabtree County Park and the variety of trail features there is a big gap to fill.”
RDU urged to think about land beyond the park
The state parks department is working with Wake on the trail plan for Umstead, but a spokeswoman referred questions about it to the county.
The trails would be open to hikers as well as cyclists and would be in a remote part of the park, between the Reedy Creek Muli-Use Trail and the airport. Snow said the state would help guide development of the trails in Umstead but wants the county to build and maintain them.
The plan would also include improvements to the 151 acres the county leases from the airport. The trails there were blazed by cyclists over the years, some through streams and wetlands that should be avoided, Snow said. Advisers from the International Mountain Biking Association have walked the property and the adjoining park land to suggest potential routes, he said.
Meanwhile, RDU has said it would leave space for a trail from Lake Crabtree County Park to Old Reedy Creek Road, which connects Umstead, Cary’s Black Greenway Trail and the county’s bike trails on airport land. The airport also says it’s seeking development that would be compatible with the park and preserve recreational activities.
The idea of development that supports recreation echos a proposal made by cyclists and friends of Umstead several years ago. The RDU Forest Village concept called for the airport to lease land north of Interstate 40 for restaurants and other businesses to serve hikers and cyclists using Lake Crabtree County Park and other forested airport land near Umstead.
The concept didn’t win over RDU, which instead leased 105 acres of forest next to the state park to Wake Stone Corp. for a quarry in 2019. That decision has been met by years of protest and lawsuits from opponents.
The Umstead Coalition is urging RDU to reconsider something like the RDU Forest Village proposal. It says RDU should work with area governments on a master plan that would make money for the airport and preserve the trails.
“It makes good sense to have a cohesive plan that the public can buy into,” Spooner said. “That’s going to be better for revenue generation and community goodwill for the airport.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 2:35 PM.
