Hammocks Beach State Park NC

[Earl Grey]

Anyone ever been here? You take a ferry over to Bear Island, a barrier island thats totally undeveloped and they have beach camping and whatnot. Never beach camped and thought about trying it to try something else besides mountains.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

One of my favorite beaches. We camped there last year for several days (TJ entry)

Campsite has a picnic table and nothing else. Water, toilet and showers are at a bathhouse. No fires are allowed and you have to use red filters over all lanterns and flashlights because the island is a nesting area for the endangered loggerhead sea turtle. One nested about 35-40 ft from my tent when I was there in 1991!

Be sure to take plenty of sunscreen and bug juice - and have no-u-see-um net on your tent. The sand fleas are hellish.

Here is a pic of our campsite to give you an idea of what it is like:

[X-LinkedHiker]

I have been to exactly this beach with a couple friends of mine. I have no pictures on my comp from that, but it was a great time. No hassles. We were able to setup maybe 200 paces from the Boat/Ferry let off.

[Earl Grey]

Thats so awesome, im gonna give it a try.

[Press]

You might also consider False Cape State Park in Virginia. It's south of Virginia Beach on the Atlantic Ocean. You have to walk through Back Bay Wildlife Refuge to get there, no vehicle access. It's about a 12-13 mile hike in but great camping, wild ponies, secluded, etc. From the camping spots in False Cape you can walk another 4-5 miles or so to the North Caroline border. You can also walk down the beach to get there. There are a few old abandoned hunting camps there, but not much else.

[rainmaker]

I've taken a couple of kayak camping trips over to the island and loved it. No people, no bugs, no problems. Of course it was during January and February, the only time I would even consider camping on a barrier island in the Carolinas. If you like that sort of thing and have a kayak, Capers Island in SC is even better, a barrier island wilderness with its own "boneyard" of dead trees strung out along a mile long beach.

[Bearpaw]

I sea kayaked out there a number of times as well as leading scout trips there when I was stationed at Camp LeJeune in the Marine Corps. It was a neat place, though sand will never be my favorite place to camp. Just get accustomed to NO shade except what you bring.

[CatNap]

The sand fleas had a feast when I was there, but still had a wonderful time. Nice place for star gazing and watching meteors.