Crowder District Park

People complain that the park is too small or that there isn’t enough for their kids. I think this is a very nice park. Yeah, it might be no frills compared to others but it has trails, playgrounds, a field, volleyball, and nice sit down areas. And it’s dog friendly. It’s peaceful and never packed which is the best part to me.

Not sure what else you are looking for in a little park. They have a very spacious play area for kids, then several other little okay areas along the path.
The path around the little pond is very nice with a little bridge to stop and look at the turtles including grandpa snapper.
It has several bathroom stops.
A nice annex with charcoal grills to hold your party.
Open fields to play soccer or whatever.
Nice job with this park

We wanted to try a new playground (just to see what’s available in the area) and we thought we’d give Crowder a try. We arrived somewhat early in the morning and the playground was still empty. It actually looked like a nice little playground with climbing structures of various sizes, slides galore, and even some of those bouncy animals to ride on.
My toddler ran into the playground, so excited by the potential of a fun new park, and then kind of stopped. We convinced her to climb up one of the structures and showed her a few of the things to play with, and then she walked off the structure, refusing to use the slide. All of this is very unlike her especially when there isn’t the distraction of lots of other kiddos around. She stood on near the side of the play area and asked us to stand with her. After a long minute of parental confusion, she told us she wanted to swing… and this playground does NOT have swings!
So…if your little one (s) needs a swing, this park isn’t the best. It does have lots of structures to climb, and tons of slides of various heights… but no swings. I’m still glad we checked it out, and hopefully when we’re over the ‘necessity for swings’ stage we can enjoy this playground. It does look like fun!

This is an adorable little park. I don’t live nearby at all, but it was only about 20 minutes from my apt in Raleigh so I figured it was worth checking out. Plus, it’s a beautiful little county park and I’m on a mission to explore the area parks. A bunch of other Raleigh Chicks and a few dogs joined me this past Saturday and we had a great late morning outing.
We all gathered outside the park office and alarmed one of the park rangers into thinking he was missing a program. He came out and we assured him that we were just meeting at the park office. Then he obliged in telling us about the park, their programs, and the best way to start our morning walk. One thing we thought was super cool was the Annual Frog Fest coming up on April 5^th –

Regarding trails, there is an outer loop that is ⁸⁄₁₀ of a mile and an inner loop around the pond that is ²⁄₁₀ of a mile. If you follow the trail away from the park office to the left of the park entrance (if your back is to the entrance/​office), make a right around the loop, and then left back up to the office then you’ve gone 1.1 miles. The trails are paved and mostly shaded, but they are working on developing some unpaved trails as well. I like the trails because they’re wide, but also because they’re not hilly so they make trail running easy for not so skilled runners like me.
I think, like one of the other reviewers mentioned, they could mark the trails better. I looked for the Prairie Garden where it seemed like it should be, according to the map, and I did not see it. Maybe it was just hidden in the shade. The pond is small, but pretty and I imagine that the shade is great for the hot summer months.
Park features:
— 33 acres of landscaped grounds and hardwood forests
— hiking
— picnic
— shelters
— play areas
— environmental education
— educational gardens
— volleyball
I suppose one could complain that it’s small, but I don’t discriminate because of it being small since I know it’s small. They’re working on developing it and getting more out of their little site, but they seem to make the most of it.

Not a bad little park, but far from great. It seems to be good for kids, and there are a lot of them. I like the short loop and the boardwalk around the pond. Being only my second time in the park, I can say I wish the trails were marked better. Right after I passed a «Stay on Paved Trails» sign, I passed a trail marker pointing off the main trail onto an obviously maintained wood chip laden trail. The clincher for me though was the loud obscene music coming from the bordering neighborhood; kind of killed the serenity for me. Perhaps I will save this park for early mornings when I hope nobody is up except the fitness walkers & runners.

Great place for a dog walk. The walking path is paved all around and winds nicely around a small lake. The markers on the path indicate the trail is 1 ¼ miles in length. Every time I measure it, the results are right at one mile. The park is clean and we’ll maintained. My only difficulty is that in the summer, I will not walk my Greyhound here due to intense heat. There is very little shade on the trail. Lastly, the place is popular with 3:2’s (every family in Wake county is by law required to have 3.2 children), due to the tot lots.

It’s small, but quiet and peaceful. Lots of turtles in the lake.

Crowder District Park is a great place to take the whole family and even the family dog. There are miles of trails, playgrounds, open play fields, picnic tables, nature center, and a nice little pond where you can spot turtles and ducks. I frequently visit this park because it is dog friendly and I can walk the dog before my kids play. The playgrounds are nice as well because there are several playground options. Each playground is set up well and nicely kept. There’s plenty of shade and equipment is appropriate for a wide variety of ages. I have never been to one of the programs that the nature center puts on, but if I have time this summer I am sure to attend. You can find a list of events on the park website, on the park bulletin board, or in the Carolina Parent Magazine. Often times when we go to the park I have seen the stroller mommies in their walk/​jog work out group. I do not have stroller aged kids, but for those who do have small children this might be a nice way to meet other mommies and get a work out in. The only reason that I did not give this park five stars is because of the bathrooms. Each time I have been to the park the bathroom either had a stall out of order or the bathroom was a mess. I understand that it is a public park and they do not have staff readily available to clean the bathrooms, but it is terribly inconvenient when you go to the park with young children.