Fort Fisher Beach Hike

Saturday, we took Alex out to the beach to camp for the weekend.  We left early and arrived at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area around 830 and there were only a few cars in the parking at this point.  It was quite chilly but the winds were calm.  We started hiking down the beach with the tide out.

As the tide went out, interesting patterns were left in the sand where the water drained.  I thought they looked kind of like a tree.  We also spotted a number of jellyfish washed up along the beach.

We went out a mile or so and find a nice place to sit down and enjoy the view.

Alex enjoyed going for a walk on the beach.

We headed back from here to the parking lot and then got on the Basin Trail.  I really like this trail and always try to hike it when visiting the park, at least when the bugs are gone.  We hiked through maritime forest and across the salt marsh.  There were lots of yaupon holly berries along the trail.

We swung by the hermit bunker and went out to the overlook of Zeke's Island Reserve.

On the hike back, we spotted a number of birds.  In the salt marsh, there was a number of white ibises pecking around in the muck.  A few had brown plumage and were juveniles.

There was also a great egret in here.

A little further on there was a Cape May warbler.

And in the open area, we spotted a chestnut-sided warbler.

Lots of birds out on a nice winter day.

After our hike, we drove into Kure Beach and had lunch at Jack Mackerels Grill.  After lunch, we walked down to the beach and enjoyed the waves for a bit.

Then we headed to Carolina Beach State Park and checked in at the marina before setting up camp.  After setting up, we hiked to Good Hops for a drink before dark.  We got back to camp just before sunset and I ran down to Snow's Cut for a view.

The sky turned brilliant shades of pink and orange and the clouds looked like cotton candy.

Back at camp, we built a nice fire as the temperature dropped quickly after the sun set.