Running Raleigh: Ironwood Trail - Trail Review 2
The Ironwood trail is another one of my top three Favorite trails to run-- although I like to call it the Shelley to Crabber Run. I usually Start off by parking at Shelley Lake. You can use either to main parking lot or the lower parking lot. Then instead of getting on the overcrowded Shelley Lake Trail, you go under a bridge/tunnel that takes you to the other side of Millbook Avenue and drops you onto an awesome portion of Raleigh's Greenway Trail. From here, it's a 2.5 mile run/walk/bike to the Crabtree Valley Mall. That's right. I can get to the Mall in 16 minutes or less if I'm pushing myself hard. So you get the scenic payoff on both ends of this run. So, let's see how it does. Hill Ranking: 4 (Are we going down hill, both ways?) This section of the trail below the Shelley Lake dam is pretty flat. Again, you are running next to a river. So, you get your ups and downs, bridges and bumps that you'd expect to find next to a riv
