Salem Lake Trail — Attraction in Winston-Salem

8-6-21

Parking:

1)Salem Lake Playground (30+ cars) with direct access. Bathrooms and trash containers. Crazy on weekends and I tend to avoid it then.

2)Linville Road lot (20+ cars) with direct access. Bathrooms, water station, and trash cans. Not as crazy as the playground lot.

3)INDIRECT access at the Salem Lake Marina (parking out the wazoo) but gated at certain hours and requires walking out of the lot.

4)INDIRECT access on New Greensboro Road lot (10 cars or so) with trash cans. Requires a .25 mile walk from the lot to access the trail. You will have to walk through/around a maintenance access gate.

^All of these have listings on Google Maps.

The Trail:

Paved sections near the marina and some near the Linville Road lot. Otherwise the trail is sand and large enough to fit an entire vehicle. It is mostly flat laterally but does have some elevation change. All gradual. Mostly shaded with open parts occasionally (bridge and power lines). High canopy and wide trail equals noticeably cooler temperatures and zero bugs/webs to fight. I would say 90% of the trail has views of the lake but mostly obstructed. Some cutouts get you up to the water and sections do have some excellent views. Benches and trash bins throughout with excellent cell service.

There are mileage markers if you do the entire loop moving counter clockwise. The signage says the entire loop around the lake is 7 miles. Today I parked at the Linville Road lot and walked the entire loop and my tracker put that at 7.258 miles (11.68 km). Easy to moderate trail.

You will share with all types of folks. Bikers, walkers, dog walkers, cross country type runners/teams, horses, and people of all ages. The wide, mostly easy trail enables all of this to work and the trail etiquette amongst folks partaking is excellent. Let's face it, some biking trails that couple as hiking trails are usually narrow and difficult to share. Not here! You will see water fowl and turtles on tree trunks in the lake. All very skittish so approach slowly!

I like this trail when I want a break from webs/bugs, strenuous and narrow, and just walking woods type trails. I also sometimes do like to see civilization and the people doing their exercise routines. Couple these things with views of the lake and voila. Will add that near the marina the trail connects to the Salem Creek Greenway if that's your thing.

Part of...

My first time running on the trails there and it was great. The path or should I say road is wide and the gravel is not a problem as it is a fine grade. The only problem is it was a day after the storm Debbie came thru. There were small branches everywhere, a few times my foot would catch the twigs but usually in a step or two it would be loose. The trail was not crowded at all. It was a 85 degree muggy morning but the trees cover the trail so it was not hot but sweated heavily. Overall it is a wonderful place to run! A plus is my shoes will not wear out as easily now. The entire run I imagined myself on a dirt path in Kenya, yes it was that good and enjoyable. I will definitely make this my base and...

Yes this is a good place to escape for fun adventure, even though this isn't a large bike course it does have good trees, deers raccoons, plenty of squirrels and rabbits, beautiful hawks, owls etc. It's a place to hang out , I personally would love to see more African sisters on the course shaping up those fine bodies they have, their absence is very saddened for a Blackman like myself. Like the saying goes, when I eat off the grill I like my meat and food with some dark black grill markings on it, that where the real flavor is, anyway this trail is a excellent workout....