Explore the best rated trails in Smithfield, NC, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Buffalo Creek Greenway (Neuse Riverwalk) and Edwards Mill Connector . With more than 65 trails covering 231 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Excellent trail. Unobstructed and scenic with all types of turns and bridges. Got an easy 10 here and could have went further. Love the mixed crowd; kids, bikers, runners and dogs. Super exciting to see so many people into fitness and outdoors.
Great ride today on a 95° day. Fortunately, a good portion of this trail is shaded. There were 47 bridges between APP and the end, very nice. The trail rises and falls a bit more than most trails, so you need more than a beach cruiser, but the grades are neither long nor steep for more cyclists. Watch the blind corners as some people tend to cut the corners a bit. Great trail overall!
What was not expected was the trail was closed on two ends, so I can’t put in a totally fair review, but I was not impressed. The trail breaks up a lot, connects via the road, runs through a lot of suburban areas that are somewhat scenic. There are some cool bridges, but can’t really say I saw much more to write about. I am giving this 3 stars based on the fact I could not see the entire trail.
Surprised that only pedestrians have access to trail at this time.
This was our first trip to this rail trail and was a very peaceful walk with our two small dogs. We duct venture to far since this was our first outing with them. Next time we'll go further. But from what we saw it was very clean. ¿
Went 11 miles biking today and it was very busy surprisingly busy for 30 degree Monday in mid January but still a good day
My husband & I recently moved to NC. This trail is only 5.7 miles from our new home. It was our first trail we went on in NC. 11/25/2023. Once there, you can go left or right. We went to the right side today riding our bikes. Will ride the left side next weekend. We would say it's easy to moderate. Just a couple of hills, a lot of bridges, several benches along the way, open fields, pull outs to take photos, very shaded etc. It wasn't too crowded, everyone we encountered was friendly. We even seen a huge buck! & a couple other deers. Also seen a lot of squirrels & birds. If you enjoy nature on a very nice paved path this is a wonderful place we will return too. I’m sure if we were walking we would have seen a lot more wildlife. It took us 30 minutes to get to the HWY where we turned around just casually riding our bikes. If you’re pushing it I would say it could be completed in 20 min or so riding fast. We will try that later. Put this trail on your list to visit. You won’t be disappointed! Love! Love! Love!
The placing is amazing for a photo shoot during fall
We moved here from NY and found this within 10 minutes of our new place. My son is in a wheelchair so parking, hills , trail quality are all important. The path from the parking lot is short but steep. It’s a good push up it after you’ve walked. The trail goes to the right or left. The left is scenic and easy. Beautiful bridges. The right starts with small hills. It’s still very nice but we’ll probably stick with the left side. Quite but we’ll used. Very nice friendly encounters with walkers, joggers and some kind of electric skateboarders. These seem very popular here in NC.
My son and I wanted a place to walk that was easy, pretty and wheelchair friendly. Parking was great. We had no problem on any part of the trail. I guess the one down fall is to continue the trail around the water you walk on a main roads sidewalk. I did not want to do that so we turned around and back tracked the trail. Which was great for us. We saw turtles and cranes.
The American Tobacco Trail is an excellent trail for bikers, walkers, runners, and horseback riders. I did a bunch of research via YouTube on the trail before I drove the hour to get to it. It was shaded, easy to find, and the trail surfaces were superb and easy to ride.
There were available bathrooms at the trailhead and in different areas along the trail. It was exceptionally busy with the cooler temps so you need to watch out for oncoming traffic (runners, bikes).
If I had to pick something to improve, I would fix two things to make the trail even better. First, the markings as you get into the outskirts of Durham (from the south). We missed the trail marker and had a slight diversion. The other thing I would do to improve this great trail experience would be putting more garbage cans throughout the trail to throw out any trash and especially for folks cleaning up after their dogs (doggie bags). No one wants to carry that for a few miles.
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