Time for Another Trip: Ocracoke, NC

[Skillet]

If my plans don't fall apart, I plan on going to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and boondock at Ocracoke this week for a few days. It's about a 6-7hr drive and from what I've seen on the website, it has reopened after all the flooding. I'm hoping there won't be too many people there. Haven't been to a beach in years and I'm looking forward to some ocean noise.

[Blue~Go]

Nothing like the sounds of the ocean/surf. Well, maybe a mountain stream burbling along. I'll take some of each!

Your trips and trip reports are great. Make me feel like I'm traveling in the Mid-Atlantic.

[Skillet]

Had a great trip and ended up staying 2 nights. The drive down was uneventful. At the Hampton Roads Bridge/Tunnel (at the James River), I had to pull over both coming and going to turn off my propane. They have an inspector to make sure you do it. Once at the Outer Banks you could see that they are still cleaning up Rt 12 from the sand and water that had submerged parts of it from hurricane Juaquin. While the road was open, there were spots you had to really slow down for because of the backhoes removing the sand and rebuilding the dunes. Water was still intruding.
I haven't been here since the 70's as a kid so while it pretty much stayed the same, there sure were a lot of new housing developments that went in.

From the Nags Head side, the ferry over to Ocracoke Island was free. Apparently going beyond will cost. I didn't time it but it was about 1/2-45min ride. I got to the campground at 5 as the ranger was leaving. I was taking a chance with no reservations, but there was plenty of room. I picked a spot that had tall vegetation on both sides and although I didn't have close neighbors, it was homey.

The one thing I was warned about is the mosquitoes, so bring your deet. I was along the backside because the front row at the dunes were filled up. What I didn't see at the time was about 12 spaces away were still filled with water. When I went outside I was literally swarmed. The Off! did its job tho. The next day I decided to move a lot closer to the dunes and it made the situation a little better.

Despite the skeeters, I'd go back here again. The beach is so deserted that you can be by yourself. The 1st night I went walking along the waves I only saw 2 couples for as far as the eye could see. During the day there were maybe a total of 2 dozen people. Most of them fishing. If you walk far enough from the campground you will see no one. Everyone just kind of clustered where the campsite was.

The campsite is separated from the ocean by a very sand dune. There are paths made at several points to access the beach. You can hear the ocean but you can't see it from any of the sites. But that's ok. I don't mind being within easy walking distance. Temps were in the upper 70's and a nice wind was blowing. There are no hookups and no shade, but they have nice showers and the bathroom looked clean. The ranger ladies at the front are very friendly and helpful.

Going home I decided to stop at the Wright Memorial. Pretty good crowds considering I got there 2hrs from closing, but easy to get around. Lots of walking and you can see an exact replica of the flyer. I won't go into detail about the place as it can be Googled with a lot more info.

2 things I learned from this trip: Bring deet and get more solar.

[Skillet]

More pics...

[Skillet]

Even more pics

[Blue~Go]

Looks like your pups loved the beach I like how you can get onto a beach and it's like the rest of the world ceases to exist and it's just you, the sand, the ocean, and the sky.

More solar is great, at least in my opinion. I end up boondocking because I can't stand listening to generators in the little forest service campgrounds (personally, instead of allowing them to run between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., as they do (and they do!), I think if they have to allow them it should be between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. or something like that). Anyway, nothing like ample, silent power

So great that you get out and take trips --- and tell/show us about them. It's fun to "ride along."

[Skillet]

This is the first time I truly boondocked for more than one day. I had to run my generator the second day and that was just because I had those mood lights on and ran the Fantastic fan the night before. The fan was on the lowest setting and the lights were on less than a half hour. It just dropped the batteries down low when I woke up that I saw the need for solar sooner than later. I might go the solar suitcase route but we'll see.

[Blue~Go]

I'm using a portable solar setup and it rocks. I do plan to add a couple of rigid panels to the roof, for those shorter stops when I don't want to put the portables out; but being able to park in the shade and put the panels in the sun is great.

As you probably know, the stock "mood" lights aren't LED, so they draw a bit. Also, the three-speed Fantastic vans still draw a fair bit even on low (1.89 amps). I have a marine fan mounted to the forward end of the over couch cabinet, and use that when it's hot for sleeping - I can direct it to flow right on me. I actually find it feels cooler than the Fantastic vent fan running. And it draws ~.2 amps on low (which is all I ever use). I may run the Fantastic on medium (doesn't draws much more than the low speed - they use a resistor for the speeds on the three-speed fan) for like five minutes to exchange air in the evening when the coach is hotter than outdoors, but after that it's the marine fan for better comfort and ~ten times less amp draw.