Winter Beach Day

Sunday, we took Alex for a day trip to the beach.  We left around 6 and headed to Hammocks Beach State Park.  First, we got Alex's passport stamped.

The ferry isn't running and we have no way to get Alex to Bear Island anyway.  But the park recently opened some trails on the mainland so we could take Alex for a little hike.  The trailhead was right at the entrance to the parking lot.  The white-blazed Track Trail led to a couple unnamed but blazed loop trails through the maritime forest.

One spot led out to a pretty little beach on Queens Creek.

We looped back to Track Trail and then went out to the ferry dock to see the intracoastal waterway.

After some pictures, we headed back.

Our next stop was Fort Macon State Park.  Again, we got Alex's passport stamped.

Then we hiked the short Yarrow Nature Trail.  Finishing back up at the parking lot, we got on the longer Elliot Coues Trail.  This loop trail ran parallel to the entrance road and alternated between boardwalk and trail.

There were some nice views of the salt marsh along the way.

After 1.5 miles, we crossed the road to hike along the beach side.  The trail passes the park's main beach access and we headed out to the beach here.

Hiking west, we left the park to Atlantic Beach.

Alex could be on a longer leash so we ran him a bit.

He really enjoyed it.  A mile or so down the beach, we stopped and watched a pod of dolphins in the surf.

After a nice break, we made our way back to Fort Macon.  There were a bunch of little ruddy turnstone sandpipers running along the beach.

At the access spot, we got back on the trail.  Winding through the dunes, it was a beautiful hike back.

Near the end, we could see Cape Lookout and the lighthouse was just barely visible in the distance.

Before we left, we wanted to check out the fort.  Dogs are not allowed so we took turns.  The fort was really neat to see.  Near the entrance was a replica of the 30-pounder Parrott Rifle cannon, developed near the start of the Civil War.

The range and accuracy of the cannons made forts like this obsolete.  The fort was built into the ground.

Cannons on the upper level provided defense from all angles.

Interestingly, only the cannons were visible from the entrance road driving in.  The rest of the fort is hidden behind the dunes and only visible from the upper levels of the fort.

The fort was very scenic and I enjoyed a short stroll around it.

After I was done, I waited with Alex so Sandy could take a walk through and then we started heading home.

We stopped in Morehead City for dinner at Dank Burrito.  Alex had a plain chicken taco for dinner!

Thieving Raccoons

In the morning, we woke up around 7 and headed down to site 6 to meet up with our group along the beach at Hammocks Beach State Park. Along the way, we saw some cute little sanderlings poking around the surf for food.

Sandy was tired and rested under the sunshade while I hiked further down to the east end. It was her birthday, so I couldn't complain if she wanted to relax. We had slept in a bit and didn’t catch the sunrise, but it was another beautiful day. Beautiful blue skies and not a cloud to be seen. As I got to around site 9, I saw Heidi sitting on the beach looking depressed. She had gotten up early to see the sunrise and when she went back to her tent, a raccoon had chewed its way in and stolen her food bag! And it had her coffee! There are no trees on Bear Island so hanging food up in a bear bag is not really an option. Keeping food in a tent is never a good idea, but there’s nothing else to do with it. Heidi was able to get some coffee from Susie back in site 6 and John managed to find her stolen bag stashed in the shrub thickets near the site, getting stung by a bee in the process. The raccoon had made off with some peanuts and other snacks but had left the coffee, the most important thing. I finished my walk down to the east end of the beach and headed over to the tidal flats here. It was close to high tide and they were completely flooded, but I did see a couple of egrets hunting fish in the shallow water.

Then I headed back and Sandy and I took down the sunshade and headed back to our site. I went for one more swim in the ocean. It was yellow-flag conditions today and the waves were a bit stronger. I enjoy getting knocked around by the waves some so I swam for a bit and then got out. Sandy and I finished taking breaking down our campsite and met up with Mahesh, then hiked our stuff back to the ferry dock. After getting back to the mainland, we made the drive back to Raleigh, getting home at a decent hour. Mahesh was very thankful that I had shared our campsite with him and given him the opportunity to join us. I wouldn’t have known about Bear Island if several years ago, someone hadn’t invited me and let me share their campsite. So I was happy to do the same for him this year.

Beach Camping at Bear Island

This past weekend, we headed to Bear Island in Hammocks Beach State Park for camping, surf, sand, and sun and to celebrate Sandy’s and Jim’s birthdays that were over the weekend. I couldn’t take Friday off from work, so we headed out early Saturday morning, while most of the others had already spent the night on the island. We left Raleigh just after six and got to the park right at 9. We had just enough time to check in at the visitor center and grab our gear to make the first ferry to the island at 930. As the ferry was ready to take off, we waited for one more camper – John, who had come up from Wilmington to join us, was the last in our group. Our Captain for the ride was Captain Bob who loves telling bad jokes on the ferry ride over; we remembered him from last year.

After crossing the Intracoastal Waterway on Cow Channel, we arrived at the island and made half-mile hike up to the pavilion and bath house. John was staying with Heidi at site 9, so he took off down the beach to set up.

Sandy, Mahesh, and I were staying on site 1, the closest one.

Being so flat, you would think the backpacking would be easy, but hiking on sand is tough and makes it seem much longer. I ran up there to make sure the previous night’s campers had left the site, and since they had, I went back to the pavilion and we grabbed our stuff and set up at our campsite. When we were done, we headed down to site 6, about midway down the beach and put up the sunshade. With all our stuff set up, we could now enjoy the beach. The surf was very calm today, so the first thing we did was take a dip in the ocean and float around amidst the gentle waves for a bit. The water was a bit chilly so after thirty minutes or so, I got out and warmed up for a bit in the sun. We made our way to the concession stand to get a cold drink with our lunch. By the concession stand, they had a table displaying exhibits of various wildlife found in the park.

These included a dolphin skull, a loggerhead sea turtle skull, various sea shells and corals, and horseshoe crab. After lunch, Sandy and I walked down the beach towards the east end of the island to collect seashells.

When we got back to our spot, we needed a rest after all that hard work! So we laid in the sand for a while. The skies were partly cloudy and the thick clouds did a good job of blocking much of the sunlight. But there were still beautiful blue skies all around. Couldn't ask for nicer weather. At one point, we could see a distinct color change in the ocean, where part of the sea was reflecting blue light from the sky and part was reflecting white/gray light from the clouds.

As the lazy afternoon wore into evening, we headed back to our campsite for dinner. Last year, we had taken our dinner down the west end of the island to watch the sunset. But there were these pesky flying ants that harassed us as we ate, so we decided to eat at the campsite this year before walking down there. After dinner, we all met back up and started the 2 or so mile walk down to the west end of the island. As we were walking, a very dark cloud rolled in and we got sprinkled with just a bit of rain, but after a few minutes, the cloud blew off and with it the rain. We also saw an interesting uprooted tree that was upside down in the middle of the beach.

It must have blown over at some point in time, but it was strange to see in the middle of the beach nonetheless. When we reached the west end of the island, we staked out a spot in the sand and waited to watch the sunset.

Clouds moved in and out from in the sun and made for a beautiful light show.

When the sun was blocked by clouds, its rays were shining out from around the clouds.

As it got lower and lower towards the horizon, the sky changed to beautiful colors of pink and orange until the sun set and darkness began kicking in.

Once the sun set, we hiked back to the pavilion and took a warm shower before going to bed.

While I was waiting for Sandy to get out of the shower, I saw an orange light in the direction of Emerald Isle. As it rose in the sky, I realized that it was the moon rising in a brilliant orange color. Walking back to our campsite, the moon and its reflection on the water made for a beautiful sight. And a good breeze behind the dunes kept the bugs away for the night and thankfully, we didn’t wake to a million bug bites.

Last Day at the Beach

In the morning, we broke camp and brought all of our stuff over the dunes in preparation for leaving Hammocks Beach State Park. But we stuck around for a while to enjoy the beach for a while before leaving.

We walked up and down the beach collecting shells and even found a couple of unbroken sand dollars. But no more sea turtles. We heard that the day before, three baby turtles fell in a hole in the sand and couldn't get out. Luckily, someone notified the rangers who helped them make it to the sea. By late morning, we decided it was time to go. We had gotten a little sun-burned the day before and the bright sun today was irritating. So we carried our stuff back across the beach and up to the bath house and then down to the ferry dock.

While waiting for the ferry, we saw an anole and a mantis at the shelter.

Once back on the mainland, we packed up the car and headed home.

Birthday at the Beach

It was Sandy's birthday this past weekend and we celebrated it at the beach on Bear Island at Hammocks Beach State Park. I think this is my favorite beach in North Carolina - the limited amenities and having to take a boat to the island really cuts back on the number of people on the beach and provides for a much more tranquil beach experience. We arrived at the park visitor center in the afternoon, checked in, and got our ferry passes to ride over to the island. Waiting for the ferry, it started to rain, but just a light drizzle. It was still raining when we arrived on the island, so we quickly hiked up to the bath house for shelter. Hoping for the rain to let up, we waited for a while, but it didn't look like we were going to get a break. I took the tent out of my backpack and hurried to campsite 4 to set up the tent quickly. Then I went back and we hiked the rest of the stuff in and quickly got in the tent. It was raining heavily now and the tent was slightly leaking, so we used a tarp and a sun shelter to cover the tent and managed to stay dry for the night, even as the rain and wind got stronger throughout the night. It was quite a storm - the lightning was making a fabulous light show in the night sky. But we did not leave the shelter of our tent again that night.

By morning, the storm had cleared, but there was still cloud cover over most of the sky.

We ate a quick breakfast and took a walk on the beach towards the northeast end of the island. Not far down the beach, we saw what at first looked like an oyster shell. But it was moving and seemed to have legs. It was an almost black baby loggerhead sea turtle making his way to the ocean.

He was very cute, waving his little flippers trying to move forward in the wet sand. But flippers are made for swimming not moving. And the waves were crashing in on him, pushing him in and then back out. After a bit, we gave him a little help and moved him past where the waves were crashing so he could swim out to sea on his own.

We continued down the beach as the sun starting poking through the clouds. At the northeastern end of the island, some people had come in on a private boat, and we saw some egrets in the marshy lagoon area.

Then we headed back towards our campsite and played in the waves and the sand.

After swimming a bit, we made sand sculptures of a turtle, mermaid, and dolphin.

The turtle got washed away a bit because we didn't make him past the high tide line. In the evening, we headed down to the southwest end of the island and had a sunset dinner on the sand.

Unfortunately, some pesky flying insects made it difficult to eat, so we went closer to the shore and away from the bugs.

There wasn't much of a breeze to keep the bugs away, but they weren't present by the water's edge.

We ate dinner, including a camping cheesecake meal for Sandy's birthday. Then we went back to the bath house and took a warm shower before retiring for the night.

Beach Camping at Bear Island

This weekend, my last before the wedding, I spent camping on Bear Island in Hammocks Beach State Park. Saturday morning, we drove out to the park early, but still just barely missed the 930 ferry to Bear Island and so caught the one at 1030. I stayed on campsite 10, which ended up being quite a good mile and a half walk with all my gear.

After setting up camp, I took a dip in the ocean to cool off and started to explore the island.

At the east end of the island, there were many sea shells and a view of Emerald Isle and Swansboro.

We headed to the western end of the island for dinner and watched the sunset, then headed back to the campsites under a nearly full moon.

I woke up before dawn and headed back to the east end of the island to watch the sun rise.

Then a few more hours of fun in the sun and waves before packing up and taking the ferry back to the mainland.