THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606060209
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRIS KIDDER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 123 lines
WHEN SOMEONE suggests walking on the Outer Banks, you probably think ``beach.'' It makes sense: More visitors come to the Outer Banks for the uncrowded, undeveloped beaches than for any other reason.
There is no finer oceanfront for strolling on the mid-Atlantic coast, no longer stretch of endless, wide, flat, sandy terrain.
The beach can be walked - with just three breaks for two inlets and a research pier in Duck - from Carova at the Virginia border to Ocracoke Village. That's more than 120 miles of beach, beach, beach.
But consider the other possibilities: There are places away from the beach where your feet can carry you, worlds beyond the dunes to explore, perspectives above sea level to enjoy.
On Ocracoke Island, Hammock Hills Nature Trail is a half-mile, moderate hike that winds through the dunes from one side of the barrier island to the other.
Markers point out different micro-environments along the way. The National Park Service trail is self-guided (that means there's no printed trail guide) and takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
The Buxton Woods Nature Trail is part of the Cape Point area of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore at Buxton. The trail is also a half-mile of moderate hiking that will take 30 to 40 minutes to complete. Self-guided, it features natural history exhibits about the animal and plant life of the maritime forest.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service oversees the self-guided North Pond Trail in the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. The half-mile trail is built around freshwater impoundments created for waterfowl use.
The handicapped-accessible trail has interpretive markers and four viewing platforms with mounted spotting scopes.
At the Bodie Island lighthouse, an easy two-mile trail follows an old dike toward Oregon Inlet.
The trail addresses environmental changes as a consequence of man's interference with nature. Those with sharp eyes will see a variety of birds, and possibly some otters and other wildlife. A printed trail guide is available at the NPS Bodie Island visitor center.
The 1.5 mile ``Tracks in the Sand'' nature trail at Jockey's Ridge State Park takes an hour or so to walk. Fourteen markers along the trail, which goes all the way to the sound, identify plants and animal tracks.
A printed trail guide is available at the park office.
Jockey's Ridge State Park also has a 360-foot, handicapped-accessible boardwalk that takes visitors through a shrub thicket to a platform with a good view of the highest sand dune.
A taped narrative is available from park rangers for use on the boardwalk by visually handicapped visitors.
Nags Head Woods Preserve, part of the North Carolina Nature Conservancy, has five trails: Center, a quarter-mile path that winds through dune, swamp and pond habitats; Sweetgum, two miles; Blueberry Ridge, a one-mile loop off Sweetgum trail; Roanoke Sound, a half-mile; and Discovery, an eighth-mile trail designed for children with interpretation signs.
Maps of all the trails and printed guides for the Center and Sweetgum trails are available at the Nags Head Woods visitor center.
Some words of caution about all the trails at beach parks: mosquitoes and sand spurs.
Warm weather brings out the pesky but necessary insects. Bring insect repellent. Most of the trails are sand and will harbor sand spurs (and sometimes cactus) year-round. Wear shoes.
You'll find walking more civilized on Roanoke Island. Trails on the island are all easy strolls, most with a historical bent that befits the site of England's first attempt at colonizing the New World.
Stroll through 10 1/2 acres in the Elizabethan Gardens. Meandering paths take you up the Rhododendron Walk and into the Sunken Garden, through wildflowers and herb plots, past fountains and statuary, under an ancient live oak believed to have been standing when the colonists arrived on the island in the 1580s.
At Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, the quarter-mile Thomas Hariot Nature Trail interprets the natural resources the first colonists found on Roanoke Island. Wayside exhibits mark this easy, self-guided trail.
There's a new trail at the Fort Raleigh site, says National Park Service spokesman Robert E. Woody. Tentatively named the ``Freedom Trail,'' because of its proximity to the spot where a freedman's colony was established on Roanoke Island in the 1800s, this wooded trail runs 1.5 miles from the parking lot in front of the Elizabethan Gardens to the Manns Harbor bridge.
``Our Big Back Yard'' is the theme for the North Carolina Aquarium's quarter-mile nature trail that includes bird, bat and butterfly house exhibits. Trail markers are being added this summer. The trail ends at the aquarium boardwalks, where viewing telescopes give a close-up view of the Croatan Sound and the mainland shoreline.
For just plain walking, public bike trails on Roanoke Island - seven miles along U.S. Route 64, from the Manns Harbor bridge at the north end of the island to the Nags Head-Manteo Causeway - and in Nags Head, 4.7 miles from Whalebone Junction south along Old Oregon Inlet Road, can't be beat. The landscaped Roanoke Island path features rest stops with drinking fountains and benches.
Henry Thoreau wrote, ``Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.'' Walk the Outer Banks and discover the pleasures of seeing these barrier islands from a new point of view, and you'll know exactly what he meant. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Walking is more civilized on Roanoke Island where trails are all
easy strolls and most have a historical bent.
MORE INFORMATION
There are no set hours for National Park Service trails in
Ocracoke, Bodie Island and Fort Raleigh, but the NPS recommends
using the trails during daylight hours. For more information and
schedules for guided walks, call 473-2111.
Information about the U.S. Fish & Wildlife trail and bird walks
at Pea Island is available from the refuge office on Pea Island or
the Alligator River headquarters in Manteo. Call 473-7132. The
refuge is open during daylight hours only.
For information about Jockey's Ridge State Park and guided walks
for adults and children, call 441-7132. The park is open 8 a.m. to 9
p.m.
Nags Head Woods Preserve, 441-2525, is open to the public from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The Elizabethan Gardens, 473-3234, is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
every day during summer months. There is an admission charge of $3
for adults, $1 for teenagers 12 to 17. Children 11 and under are
admitted free when accompanied by adults.
Although there is a small admission charge to the North Carolina
Aquarium at Roanoke Island, use of the trail is free. For more
information, call 473-3493.
Public parking is available at all of these trails. by CNB