FEBRUary 2021
Outer Banks
Where: 200-mile chain of barrier islands off northeast coast of North Carolina
Directions: NC 12 and ferries from south; US 64 from west; US 158 from north
Good to Know:
Dogs are allowed on the beach year-round at all town and park beaches:
Cape Hatteras National Seashore - leashed dogs welcome
Corolla - dogs welcome but 4-wheel drive access only, can walk north along beach but will be sharing beach with vehicles
Duck - dogs are permitted under voice control
Kitty Hawk - dogs can be unleashed except from the Friday before Memorial Day until the day after Labor Day between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m
Southern Shores - dogs allowed except from May 15 to September 15 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Why so good:
THE DUNES.
Jockey’s Ridge, with heights varying from 80 to 100 feet, is the tallest natural sand dune system on the Atlantic seacoast. The vast expanse of sand stays in place due to the shifting winds that blow the massive sand pile back one way and then back the other. One of the best ways to visit Jockey’s Ridge State Park is to seek out the remote lot off Soundside Road. The 1-mile Soundside Overlook Trail explores the four different environments of the park including shrub forest and brackish marsh. Both trails lead to the sandy edge of the Roanoke Sound estuary where the gentle waters make an ideal canine swimming pool - or a cool walkway through the shallows. The 1.5-mile Tracks in the Sand Trail is a more rigorous exploration and departs from the Visitor’s Center; it highlights the signs in the sand left by small mammals, reptiles, birds, insects and even plants that have adapted to this desert environment. Expect windy conditions on to top of the dunes.
Run Hill, just to north of Jockey’s Ridge, is rougher around the edges and even better suited for a doggie romp in the dunes. The high dunes reveal themselves behind the First Flight Elementary School. No trails here - just a giant sandbox for your dog to play in.
THE HISTORY.
A wave of English settlers came here in 1585 on seven ships commanded by Sir Walter Raleigh’s cousin, Sir Richard Grenville. A party of 108 colonists was left on Roanoke Island, which they considered “a most pleasant and fertile ground.” When supply ships returned in 1587 there was no trace of “The Cittie of Ralegh.” Attempts to locate the colonists were made until 1602 but they had disappeared without a trace. No one knows the true fate of the Lost Colony but the latest theory is they were not lost at all but assimilated into the local Indian tribes. At any rate, the canine hiking at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is along the superior Thomas Hariot Nature Trail. Hariot was a 25-year old astronomer and mathematician chosen as observer and chronicler for the initial voyage. The well-groomed loop dips and rolls after starting out from the reconstructed fort. The route touches on Roanoke Sound where your dog can find a small sand beach and excellent dog paddling.
The name Currituck comes down from the Algonquian Indian term for “Land of the Wild Goose.” And it was the abundance of waterfowl that led Edward C. Knight Jr., an heir to an old money Philadelphia fortune, to come here and indulge his passion for bird hunting in the 1920s. Knight and his wife Marie Louise, built the largest and most elegant residence ever to grace the Outer Banks. Does your dog find herself missing green grass after too much time at the beach? Then this is the place to come. The Currituck Heritage Park doesn’t maintain formal hiking trails but there is plenty of room to roam the grounds and study the interpretive signs. The green grass is spotted with live oaks and fingers of grass reach into the Currituck Sound in several locations.
At the Wright Brothers National Memorial your dog can hike right down the path of the world’s first powered flight. No need to pack extra water on this hike - the flight on December 17, 1903 only lasted 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet. The park features a large open area with two walking destinations of interest. Big Kill Devil Hill, where the Wrights conducted glider tests to test their theories of flight, has been stabilized and is laced with paths around and to the top of the 90-foot dune.
THE PRESERVES.
There are many opportunities for your trail dog to sample the maritime forests of the Outer Banks in local preserves and nature trails. These are scattered through the islands and almost all about a mile or so. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore serves up a nature trail on each of its three islands. The best of the lot is in Buxton Woods on Hatteras Island, near the Visitor Center and lighthouse. This trail bounds across pine and oak-covered dunes with marshy wetlands tossed into the mix. The gnarled trees and shrub thickets provide a shady respite from a day on the beach with your dog. Another leafy canine hike is on the Hammock Hills Nature Trail on Ocracoke Island which traipses through a maritime forest on the edge of Pamlico Sound for a bit less than a mile.
Nags Head Woods Preserve, a National Natural Landmark, offers the most extensive hiking trail system in the Outer Banks but dogs are restricted to Trails 4, 5, and 6. That is still plenty of opportunity to take in hardwood-studded dunes and picturesque marshlands. The Roanoke Trail is the marquee hike here, ending up at a small, wooded beach on the Roanoke Sound.
The Currituck Banks Reserve in Corolla probes the primitive northern recesses of the Outer Banks, both on a half-mile boardwalk and a hiking trail deeper into the maritime forest. The Pine Island Audubon Center preserves an historic island hunt club. The nature trail here is a flat, wide footpath that rambles under arching live oak branches for over two miles. The Kitty Hawk Woods Preserve contains the region’s largest hardwood swamp with nearly 2,000 acres. The best hike with your dog here is a two-mile loop at the David Paul Pruitt Playground but there are hours of adventure open on primitive trails through the swamps that may or may not be marked.
THE LIGHTHOUSES.
There are five lighthouses on the Outer Banks your dog can visit - three in the national seashore. The oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina - and one of the nation’s oldest is the 75-foot tower on Ocracoke Island. There is a small park here with often deserted beaches for your dog just down the road. America’s most famous lighthouse - and its tallest at 208 feet - is the black-and-white swirl-striped Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Its light can be seen 20 miles out to sea and has been reported to have been seen from 51 miles. Although your dog can’t do it, you can climb the 268 steps to the top. Miles of undeveloped beach are at the parking lot. The black-and-white 150-foot Bodie Island Lighthouse dates to 1872. There is a short boardwalk into the edges of Pamlico Sound and undeveloped beach across Route 12. The Currituck Beach Lighthouse is part of the Corolla Beach Historical complex and park. The Roanoke Marshes Light on Manteo offers a short boardwalk stroll to a unique hexagonal-shaped light station.