False Cape State Park to Kitty Hawk, NC

36 miles biking, 7 miles hiking.

A day full of misadventures!

We were up early – falling asleep at 8pm has that effect.  The plan was to ride a few miles through the interior of the park on service roads, then struggle for a few miles along the beach before the tide came in.  Unfortunately, the high tide was at 11:30, making beach riding impossible from about 9:30 to 1:30 (and even later, as we learned).  The ride along the interior roads was calm and pleasant.  Surprisingly, there were dunes, small hills, a forest, and a swamp to discover.  It was an awful lot of diversity in a tiny little strip of coastal land.

We were back on the beach by 9:00, and limped along the soft sand for a half hour until calling it quits.  We tied the bicycles to a sign near the dunes and headed inland on foot to take a hike through the park to pass the hours waiting for the tide.

We were hiking nearly 7 miles!  The trails were all flat, but sandy, making the hike tiring.  We made it to the North Carolina border on foot, and saw a wild beast running through the forest.  Jason insists it was a feral pig, but Daisy thinks it was a more mundane deer.  We’ll never know…

After a lunch in the dunes we returned to the bikes at 1:30 and headed back out to the waterline in search of firm sand to ride on.

Sections of firm sand existed… but were fleeting.  It was tough going, and sometimes we had

to walk.  The tide just wasn’t out far enough to reveal a good riding surface.  Also, it was getting cold.  We excitedly watched the North Caroline border get closer and closer, dreaming of rideable roads.  When we got there…. well, the news wasn’t good.

The vacation homes had been built on sand, and the roads inland were soft sand, and the only way to reach this isolated section of North Carolina was… along the beach, in the sand.  In fact, the state actually considers this beach to be a highway and has mileposts along the dunes.  Just as the ranger said… 10.5 miles of beach riding awaited us.

We were resigned to push, ride, and continue.  What other option was there?  Well, lady luck was with us.  Within a mile of our cold struggle’s beginning the local Sheriff drove up alongside us.  With an amused grin he asked what we were doing, and if we wanted a ride to pavement.  Our answer was a grateful yes.  We loaded up the bikes and gear in his truck and climbed in for a crazy beach ride.  The Sheriff seemed pleased to have us, as he was nearing the end of a slow 12 hour shift.  He took us inland to see the local ‘wild horses’, supposedly descended from Spanish mustangs that escaped a sinking ship and swam ashore.  They were shaggy, and lounging about in the lawns of vacant vacation homes.

He also took us to see the giant sand hill that had supposedly swallowed a town.  Finally, he dropped us off on sweet pavement nearby a house that Dave Matthews was rumored to have built.  We really got the best tour, free of charge!  The Sheriff also told us where to go to see the local lighthouse on our way through town.

We decided to pay to climb the lighthouse and get a view of the narrow strip of sand we had been riding on.  It was an impressive vista, with ocean on one side and a large Bay on the other.  A row of water towers marked the small towns that awaited us to the south.

 

We headed south, pushed by a tailwind, and motivated by the rapidly sinking sun.  The sun was gone by the time we reached Kitty Hawk, our destination.  We had planned to stay in the local hostel, but they were closed.  They offered us a deal on the campground – only $10 each… but we found a motel for $20 each, and the extra money was well worth not having to set up the tent in the freezing cold.  Our toes were bloodless by the time we checked in to the Buccaneer – a super budget motel.

We splurged a bit to get dinner out (fish and chips!).  We spent some time de-sanding our belongings, and were asleep by 9, grateful to not be wild-camping in the dunes!