Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Newberry, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
While not overly difficult and relatively short, Swamp Rabbit is one of my favorites for several reasons: • Places to stop and eat in GVille and Trav Rest • Condition of trail is never an issue since main path is paved entire way • Scenery is both rural and urban, with a ride by/thru Furman University campus a nice bonus • Slope of trail provides some gains and drops in elevation - nothing brutal but I am not a fan of “flat” for long stretches • An Urban experience with plenty of places to shop and eat in downtown Greenville • ONLY DRAWBACK is 3-4 very busy crossings with heavy traffic
We rode the trail from Taft Road south to The end next to the bowling alley on Cleveland. Very nice trail. Lots of great little shops and cafes in Travelers Rest. Hard to get the wife away from the stores and shops. I would rate it five stars except for lots of "root humps" between Travelers Rest and Greenville. They would be rough for road bikes. Also, needs more signage as you come into Greenville. The trail can be confusing unless you look at Google Maps.
I wish there were more access points to this trail. There is one at the end of Bond Avenue in Mathews Mill Village and one behind Greenwood OB/GYN near West Alexander Avenue. If anyone knows of other places to access the trail, besides the beginning at the train museum and the end at Florida Avenue, I would like to know of them.
We did this trail by chance (bad weather in NC forced to reconsider SC). Our group was two families with teenage boys. We had a great time and travelled approx. 25 miles. We started from downtown (rental shop) and headed north and ended at the river walk area (back downtown Greenville). What a great surprise, a waterfall right in downtown. Fantastic! The course is rather urban but this has advantages. There were some food stops, ice cream stops, and even some brew pub stops. I recommend renting a bike at one of the places just north of downtown. There are a couple. The downtown shop also does Segway tours and you can find the shop closed.
I highly recommend this trail and stay for dinner in Greenville.
The trail is lovely and shady. It has a bucolic feel to it and winds past the old Park Seed location. Not much change in elevation, so it's good if you have small children or need to push a stroller or wheelchair. Good for gentle walking to get back in shape after surgery, too! :)
From the north end, the trail is relatively flat and an easy ride through downtown Greenville and on to Cleveland Park and the zoo. The biggest issue with the trail is signage. The actual trailhead in Traveler's Rest is not really clear, even though you can see the trail and there is a lot of parking along it. Once you get closer and then through downtown, there are a lot of side trails but they are also marked Swamp Rabbit. Use your GPS and downloaded trail map. Once you leave Cleveland Park, you will start to get into some hills. The southern end of this portion of the trail is even worse to find. It starts at the intersection of South Pleasantburg Dr and Cleveland Street. There's a bowling alley on Cleveland St that may let you park there. Ask for permission!
If you want a real challenge, take Cleveland St past Pleasantburg Dr into neighborhoods to Perkinsmill Rd or East Perkinsmill Rd (much hillier choice) . The two roads will meet up just before going under I85, which is where you pick up the southern end of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. This will take you down to Lake Conestee. Watch for turns marked on the streets. Overall ride is about 24 miles from Traveler's Rest to lake Conestee. This last section is about 6 miles and will give you about 600 feet of elevation gain.
rode northern section then around the lake at Furman University and back. about 14 miles round trip. plenty of places to stop and eat great bike and kayak shop in Travellers Rest
I love the trail and looking forward to alot of summer riding.
I have two issues though.
1) the bumps are AWEFUL and make the ride less enjoyable and if going the distance, making it hard to enjoy.
2) we sure could use a bridge or two over the 2 VERY BUSY roads we must cross.
As of April 2018, much of the trail is still closed with no obvious signage explaining how to access the open sections. We could not find a printed trail map in Columbia, and those found online are deceiving and do not accurately reflect the closed sections. We walked the full 2.5 miles that was open north/upstream of Laurel Street to the top of the canal. Great parking, clean restrooms at each end, very interesting history, and great views of the river. The trail south/downstream from Laurel Street was gated, and also closed at the south end except for a few hundred feet. Too many walkers and too short to be a suitable bike ride, but recommended as a walk. The plan to expand the path and connect the various sections looks wonderful, but not suitable for a bike outing yet.
This trail is a great trail for biking but also a busy trail. We rode it on a Friday morning in March and I was surprised to see how many people out! There were moms with strollers, people walking and "serious" bikers (the ones that probably do bike races). But really enjoyed the trail as there is a lot to see (not boring). We started at the zoo and rode the trail north up to Travelers Rest and had lunch up there at the Whistle Stop (GREAT chickens salad) and back. We even stopped on the way coming back and rode around the lake at Furman. We stopped in at the Swamp Rabbit Grocery and had some of their homemade bread! Absolutely fabulous and bought a loaf to take with us! Their cookies are delicious too! A lot of people eating their sandwiches while we were there. I think we would do that next time!
Overall our trip was about 30 miles. When we started at the zoo we found a few spots that we weren't sure which way to go but we just asked people near us which way to Travelers Rest and they pointed us in the right direction. I think they need better signage on the beginning of the trail from the point starting at the zoo. The asphalt does need a little repair in a few places but overall a very enjoyable ride! GREAT day!
I love the Swamp Rabbit Trail and give it a 5 star but it does need to be repaved because it makes for a very bumpy ride.
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