I am wanting to plan a trip to the Outer Banks with my son and was wondering if you all could give me some tips on where to go, beach driving, camping etc. Thanks!

 

Well...beach driving is done for now....it will open up again around October, and then only certain townships allow vehicles on the beach.

 

Dunno what the comment on "beach driving is done for now..." was towards. The latest is that they are going to start enforcing rules where only parts of the beach are open at night, and some more area's are going to be closed off for nesting, but otherwise nothing has changed. The beach down near Hatteras (where it’s nice and quite) is still public access and there are entrance and exit ramps all along the beach.

It used to be, years ago, that you could enter at the top of Hatteras, and drive all the way to the ferry's at the other end of the island without leaving the beach. But now these nesting areas stop you from doing that. The best you can do, is enter on one ramp and exit at the next.

Now, the northern parts of the OBX past corolla is still open, and parts of the north (Kitty Hawk, duck, etc) are close no matter what. Too much urbanization going on. Parts of nags head are open but it cost money which sounds bad... but to be perfectly honest it’s not a bad idea really. if they closed the beach off to only those with permits, it'd make it so that those that know how to drive on the beach and not run over turtles for fun will still have access via the membership, and it'd keep the morons from coming in and trashing the place and killing all the animals. Sorry ranting there, back on topic...


There is some info here, more about camping then anything else: http://www.nps.gov/archive/caha/capehatteras.htm

And as for driving, here is a map and more details:
http://www.outerbanksguidebook.com/rampmap.htm <<-- MAP & ramp location
http://www.outerbanksbeachguide.com/newsinfo/randr.htm
http://www.outerbanks.org/visitor_se...d_vehicles.asp



and tourist info... probably no better place then: http://www.outerbanks.org/



biggest thing to rember as far as beach driving goes, is...
A)don't goose the accelerator, you'll burry your self real quick that way unless you have a hemi and then can kick sand like cazy
B)turn off the ESP. believe me, it'll be so much nicer this way. the ESP see each wheel doing a different speed due to the sand and it'll go crazy
C & most importanly)air down your tires. 15-20 PSI is a good number. you can go lower if you want, but its not needed. with 15-20, you'll still be able to drive a few miles to an air station.

 

oh, and btw, if you get the chance, go see The Lost Coloney. its an outdoor theature performance and its an awesome show.

 

we always go on the 4x4 beach just north of Corolla
[We're staying here www.carovabeach.com in the fall

You can not camp on this part of the beach though, its the wild horse area

 

You can drive on the south side of the Hatteras light down towards Frisco. I'll be there in mid Sept.

 

Just to inform every one you need to check out THIS IS NO JOKE !!!!!!!!!!

http://www.savehatteras.com/ and join the OBPA and send as many plea casts as you possibly can! ! !

I have been wheeling Hatteras Island every year since 1987. And YOUR rights as a United States Citizen to access this area is in jeapordy.

In the Fall of 2007, National Audubon Society, The Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit in Federal District Court against the United States of America to limit or ban access to many of the primary areas of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, including Oregon Inlet, Cape Point, most of Ocracoke and others. On March 13, 2008 the Dept of Justice declined to contest the lawsuit which will be heard April 11, 2008 in Raleigh NC. This means that the beach access will be effectively closed at that time. This will also have a devastating effect on our culture, businesses, tourism, property values and the economy as a whole in an area with an existing healthy natural environment.

Also if you read into this more Toyota recently gave the National Audibon Society a 20 MILLION dollar grant !!!! Just one more reason to buy more Jeeps.

Do as much as you can because when you finally go on a OBX vacation you may not be able to drive on, walk on, or even swim, fish or surf in the ocean!!!!

THANKS FOR YOU HELP !