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Donate if you can afford it. Buy a piece of the trail and get a certificate that you "Own it".
If you can't afford to donate, volunteer a slice of time to some trail improvement project.
Even if you can't do either of the above, just USE THE TRAIL! You get the health benefits, and the more people use the trail, the better assurance of a priority to continue to create green ways and alternative transportation links.
Wow, LOVE the interactive map! I just posted a link to it on a new Facebook fan page for the trail. Please hop over (yes, bad pun intended....ha!) and join us at Having Fun on the Swamp Rabbit Trail | Facebook.
Wow, LOVE the interactive map! I just posted a link to it on a new Facebook fan page for the trail. Please hop over (yes, bad pun intended....ha!) and join us at Having Fun on the Swamp Rabbit Trail | Facebook.
Thanks for the link - I didn't know about the Facebook page. In about a week, I'll be able to add free Garmin map downloads for the area that will include the trail.
Can anyone tell me which towns the trail runs through? Also, do people feel safe using it (speaking as a female runner).
The trail currently runs through the cities of Greenville and Travelers Rest. Regarding safety - if defined in terms of nearly always being in view of other trail users, the areas around Greenville and TR are safe. I haven't heard of any incidents on the trail. The areas between Greenville and TR are a bit more isolated - normally there is plenty of trail traffic, but I don't have a feel for the average time between seeing another user on weekdays on the newly opened area. Weekends bring plenty of trail traffic on the entire trail.
In about a week, I'll be able to add free Garmin map downloads for the area that will include the trail.
Free regional Garmin maps which include the Swamp Rabbit trail are now available. They are routable, but not necessarily optimized for hiking / biking display. Also they include a large band of North America and therefore only fit on newer Garmins with an SD memory card having about 523MB free. Much smaller GPS map downloads can be made but I'm not sure of the demand for those.
FYI - Trail is temporarily closed at one point because of a reckless user.
Quote:
Attention Everyone:
The section of the Swamp Rabbit Trail at Bramlett Ave (approximately ½ mile above the city limits of Greenville) will be temporarily closed until we resolve issues brought up by CSX regarding the rail crossing. Barricades have been placed on the trail to clearly identify this area. Obey the signs to avoid being cited for trespassing. Unfortunately, because of this temporary closing the trail is not connected from Greenville to Travelers Rest for the time being. Read the blog post below by Ed Sherman to see why CSX has a very legitimate concern about safety.
I will keep everyone posted on the status.
Sincerely,
Ty Houck
Director of Greenways, Natural and Historic Resources
Quote:
Good morning.
If you don’t want these updates, please say. Sending them to ya because we’re friends.
Wondering when we’re going to have the Tour de Swamp!
Swamp Rabbit Trail news is not always good. At Bramlett Street about a mile west of downtown Greenville, a railroad crosses the trail at an angle to the trail. That railroad is active. CSX is a national company which has been using that line for many years. CSX is a railroad which spots cars for pick-up by the main line railroad. The company is constantly pulling cars across the SRT at that junction and sometimes has to stop with a string of cars blocking the trail – but only for a few minutes. This is not done to aggravate trail users, rather is part of the business of running a railroad.
Our business of building and selling locomotives is right beside that CSX rail line and we lie between that line and the Reedy River. We can sit on our office porch and see every person who passes on the trail, as well as the trains crossing the SRT.
Last week, a CSX locomotive Engineer (the man who drives the train) told us of having to temporarily stop his train along the rail line which crosses the SRT, which blocks the trail. He said he had been pulling about ten cars and the locomotive was stopped a ways up the track with a string of cars behind, some of which lay across the SRT for a few minutes. The Engineer said as he was stopped and looking in his rear view mirror, a person appeared from between two of the stopped cars on the rail where the SRT crosses the tracks. Then he turned and pulled his bicycle through the space between the cars. This is what happens when a person has less patience than sense. There is absolutely nothing more dumb than to try and squeeze between (crawl under the couplers) of a stopped train. If the train moves, you’re dead! Steel wheels carrying seventy plus tons of car on steel tracks.
There is no lesson to be learned by the half riders who have not the patience to wait on the trail until the tracks are clear because they will not live to learn the lesson. A bicycle is a terrible thing to waste.
Talk about an idiot. He deserves a Darwin Award. People also really need to learn NOT to walk 3-4 people across blocking the whole trail for bicycle riders like me. I'll just ride my bike around the barricades at Bramlett Avenue until they get the issue resolved.
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I'll just ride my bike around the barricades at Bramlett Avenue until they get the issue resolved. 
