Shelly Island- New to the OBX- An unexpected trip...

Hi all,

This is my first official post, but I am a long time lurker and adventurer. Since we started having children, my adventuring has been limited significantly which is a major blow to my adventurous lifestyle. In the past, it was not abnormal for my buddies and I to hike up into the mountains in the dead of winter and camp for several days. Mind you, I live in NE Ohio, so winters can be a bit cold.

This was the first year that the kids were old enough to start doing some serious hiking and camping. Previously, we have taken them to a Shennandoah NP and hiked a few miles of the Appalachian Trail, Hocking Hills for all their trails and some other local State Parks.

I was given the ok to plan a trip out West which would be a 20 day summer trip to the Badlands, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons. This would have included a few back country excursions with the 4 of us. I had already begun upgrading equipment when the found out that the hospital had denied part of my wife's vacation time because of staffing issues. We were only given the ok to take 10, which is not enough time to visit the destinations.

We decided to travel to the Outer Banks, which is our go to destination. We currently have a Nissan Pathfinder for off-roading and a silverado for pulling our travel trailer.

In the past, we have taken our pathfinder down there and explored the beaches and Cape Point(Diamond Shoals), which is where the Northern Labrador Ocean Current meets the Southern Gulf Coast Current. When they meet, it deposits all the sand that its carrying at the point. The changing weather is constantly changing the face of the Outer Banks and Cape Point is a prime example of the rapidly changing geography.

In the spring, national news hit that a new island had formed off the point. This is not unheard of, but it hasn't happened in such a dramatic fashion in the past. I knew we would have to visit, do some fishing and exploring.

Here are some aerial pictures of the island from last Saturday:

Shelly Island 2.2.jpg

Shelly Island 3.3.jpg

ShellyIsland1.1.jpg

In recent years, the National Park Service has closed beach access here and on many other ramps in the Outer Banks due to migratory bird nesting season. This year, they changed their practice some which gave us the opportunity to get out there and have some fun.

I have created a few youtube videos of the changes that occurred before and after a storm, but I can't seem to figure out how to post them. It keeps bringing up an error that I can't post links. If anyone has some insight into that I would appreciate the help.

This is really a special place and I hope more are able to go an visit the island before mother nature continues changing it back to the way it once was.

I will post more pictures when I get this photo/video thing figured out.


Best regards,

Grub
 
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Here are some pictures walking around the island taken with my iPhone.

IMG_0084.JPG

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My expedition rig loaded with beach chairs, Weber Q 2200, propane tank, ozark trails soft sided cooler, hot dogs and snacks for kiddos. Just put new Cooper Adventurer A/T 3's on it. It handled great in the sand. I did air down ahead of time just in case. Only saw one stuck in two days, it was a Honda Pilot buried to the bumper. Where he was in reference to our ride, I could not grab hold of him with my straps so someone on the other side got him free.

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This panoramic was taken on the northern side of the Cape with the island coming together on the right side of the photo.

IMG_0088.JPG

I took this photo before my daughter and I walked to the island to collect shells. There is a very strong current between the mainland and the island. There was a storm that came in on our second day that blew in from the west that changed the depth of the water which aloud us to find a path that was safe and easy to travel for my 5 year old daughter and I. Mind you all photos and videos were taken at the same time in the morning, 3 days apart.

IMG_0085.jpg

That's all for now.

If anyone can help me with loading up the YouTube videos, you can see the aerial fly overs.

Regards,

Grub
 
I can't figure out the YouTube embed thing, here is the tag if you would like to search for it: dr0tc_7Hpk0

Regards,

Grub
 
This is day two aerial video showing the dynamic changes of the island, sandbars and tide pools. Very dramatic show of mother natures power in just a few days.

[video]https://youtu.be/NA4Wdwr2Zlc[/video]

Also, DetroitDarin, thanks for the tag. It is now allowing me to post the links.

Best regards,

Grub
 
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wanderer-rrorc

Explorer
Nice pictures thanks for sharing!!

The midwest overlanders have quite a few guys up in northeast ohio!! check out the midwest forum on here (regional) for both the allegheny run next weekend and the fall colors tour Im hosting in october!!
 
I have recently added a few videos from our July 2017 trip that includes the 360VR video of the Shelly island drone footage and also a fly over of the Pamlico sound in 360VR also. These are the highest resolution that I can make them. You don't need Vr goggles to watch, just a 360 compatible browser or the actual youtube app on a tablet or smartphone and you can pan your device in all directions to see the 360 degree shot. On a computer, you can either move your mouse over the shot or move the arrows to change the views. The Shelly Island video has a messed up title, I apologize. I hope you enjoy the videos. It's not the same as being there but it's pretty darn close.

Shelly Island 360 Video: https://youtu.be/RcpanjCAOCM
Pamlico Sound 360 Video:https://youtu.be/grcpn3do3Yg

I hope you enjoy!
 

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