My first route of the Summer Camp Smart Commute Challenge is the longest – 5.25 miles from Old West Durham to West Point on the Eno Park. The route utilizes West Ellerbee Creek Trail, neighborhood streets, and a short sidewalk segment in front of the new Northern High School.

Here is the course route for your Garmin GPS and Google Maps. Also, James Nishimuta led a RAD ride from Duke which used this route and more.

Schoolhouse of Wonder has camps in Durham, Wake, and Orange counties. In Durham, they have a locations at Eno River State Park at Cole Mill Access and at West Point on the Eno Park. With the recent construction of Northern High School on N Roxboro St., West Point on the Eno Park is now reachable by bike for a lot of Durham! To get there you  can use either segment of the Ellerbee Creek Trail to get north of I-85, and then you get on neighborhood streets from the new bike facilities along Stadium Dr.

The keys are a new stoplight across N Roxboro St. at Wellington Dr. and a new sidewalk along the east side of Roxboro at the edge of the Northern High School Property. While I don’t normally recommend riding on the sidewalk (and it is technically prohibited by city ordinance for adults in Durham), in this case Roxboro is too fast of a street to use during the morning commute. This sidewalk really should have been an off-street cycle-track or multi-use path.

So, as pledged, I will try this out on June 12th, post some pictures on X, and update this post if necessary. Is this this a place you’d bike to? Let me know in the comments.

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Update: Complete!

While it’s fresh, here are the sketchy bits:

1. Ellerbee Creek Trail at Guess rd. has a HAWK signal, which confuses drivers and can be deadly, but wasn’t busy at 7:45a. Might be bad in evening rush hour?
   Birmingham and Winston had nice traffic calming speed bumps!
2. Carver – unsignalized crossing / unmarked crosswalk.
3. Horton – similar to Carver
4. Holt School rd. – narrow lanes, no shoulder, has a hill. For some people I’d recommend the sidewalk on the west side of the road
5. Wellington light to cross Roxboro – has car and bike detector loops and beg buttons. Using the sidewalk at the edge of Northern High School is the key to linking up to Old Farm rd. and Seven Oaks rd. (Do not use Argonne or Chateau)

A Summer Camp Smart Commute Challenge

I’m fortunate to have a neighborhood school just down the road. During the school year, we pedal our way to the elementary school nearly every day, and it’s a great start to my short bike commute to work. This summer, we’re upping the ante with a pledge to cycle or take a bus to each summer camp at least once.

Transportation Considerations for Summer Camps

While I’ve come across many posts, shared spreadsheets, and Social Media threads about summer camps in Durham, none seem to focus on transportation. While I wouldn’t choose a camp based solely on bike-ability, I understand that some parents face real constraints, such as bus routes, work schedules, lack of car access, and financial considerations.

My pledge will include the following camps: Schoolhouse of Wonder at West Point on the Eno, Duke Faculty Club, Camp Riverlea’s bus pickup spot, Museum of Life and Science, and Triangle Day School.

Motivation: Document Obstacles Tethering People to Their Cars

Every Wednesday during the school year, a few parents and I lead a group ride to school we affectionately call the BikeTrain. Inspired by the Alameda BikeBus of @CoachBalto, our version is a short ride on safe neighborhood streets from Oval Park to the EK Powe Elementary school.

On school year evenings, commutes for activities are a mixed bag. While we have groceries, restaurants, and piano lessons a stone’s throw away, karate and soccer practice are a different story, with distance and dangerous roads as the main obstacles.

During the school year, I don’t use my car a lot, but summer presents more transportation needs. Our summer solution has mostly been carpooling and sharing the driving load with other families, but this involves a lot of coordination, scheduling, and logistics. This summer I want to document some routes for those interested in car-free options. I’ll attempt to bike or bus in the spirit of BikeTrain every Wednesday!

Join the Journey

I’m on the lookout for fellow parents willing to switch up their commute. Walk, bike, or carpool to summer camp even once and share your experience! Write about it, capture it in photos, or record some video clips. Can you cover any other camps? We’d love to hear about it in the comments. Let’s change gears on the summer camp commute and skip the drop-off queue!