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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
Re: The Outer Banks, North Carolina
Posted By: Josh Gibson In Response To: The Outer Banks, North Carolina (Mark)
Date: Monday, 31 May 1999, at 6:35 p.m.
You might want to look on the southern end of the banks near Cape Lookout. I just went on a four day trip there and had a great time. I'd suggest putting in at the Cape Lookout Visitors Center. From there its a pretty easy day paddle over to Shackelford banks or over to Cape Lookout itself. Shackelford is a great destination with wild horses and there are no motorized vehicles allowed except for park service ATV's. Its nice to camp back in hte maritime forest there but the insects might be out in larger numbers than when we were there so I'd look for good spot on the beach near the dunes to take advantage of the breeze.
All of these are narrow islands, so its usually very easy to paddle on the protected water during the day and camp at night on the beach side of the island after a 5-10 minute walk through the dunes.
If you head over to Cape Lookout you'll find an incredible light house that we camped near one night and there is a very informal visitors center there which means that there are public bathrooms that you can walk to which can be nice. Also, bring all the water you need to drink. There are no publicly available water sources on these islands, so pack lots of fresh water, especially in the summer. The Park service had just installed a manual pump well near the light house, but they were still testing it for potability when I was there about two months ago. Have a great time. Its like nowhere else you'll ever go.
One more word of caution. When we paddled over from Shackelfor to Lookout, we crossed the sound when the current was heading out and the wind was blowing in. It made for a fun, bouncy, and exhausting crossing. I had a great time getting knocked around some, but if either of you is uncomfortable in choppy water, it could get a little dicey.
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