jim65wagon
Well-known member
Prologue
There's nothing more relaxing than a week on the beach…..absolutely nothing pressing to do, no work, no meetings, nothing of import to attend to. The beach we prefer is particularly suitable to just such relaxation; Cape Lookout National Seashore on the South Core Island of the outer banks of North Carolina. Why? Because once across the sound, the ferry service drops you off , you and yours can be so nearly alone it feels like your very own island in the sun.
Last year, while sitting on this very same island Beth and I agreed to return in 2010. Plans were laid for our venture, we found out when schools started for the fall, got our vacations approved and spent the next 6 months waiting. As the time for our departure grew nearer, we began weather watching. Late summer is hurricane season and we watched as Tropical Storm Danielle formed into a hurricane. We let out a sigh of relief when she swung North and spared our island a hit……that sigh of relief didn't last long as we watched hurricane Earl coming in right behind. Early predictions showed the slight possibility of a hit on Saturday September 4th. We decided it was still quite likely to get in at least a few days of beach time. Over the weekend we got the truck prepped and packed with the requisite beach gear, sandals, swimsuits, boogie boards, surf rods, etc
IMG_0003 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim65wagon/5005935415/
IMG_0005 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Monday August 30th
So, here we are, up at daylight, watching the weather channel, with Earl predicted with greater accuracy to hit the island the upcoming Friday the 3rd. OK so maybe staying until Thursday is still feasible, right? We took off for our 4:00PM ferry appointment in Davis, NC, taking with us the Ferry Service phone number, ready to inquire just how serious the situation may be getting. Never having been through a hurricane we decided to defer to someone local and knowledgeable in the Park Services decisions.
As we drove south we discussed our potential vacation. The seas were rough, riptides were being widely announced on the news as the storms riled up the ocean and people were being advised not to enter the waters on the east coast. Since the hurricane has the unlikely name of Earl, we began to associate it with the much enjoyed TV show. Making comments about the riptides and high winds, we decided we probably wouldn't get any time in the ocean. You know the saying; “the worst case scenario is death” and as Randy Hickey says:
“Being dead is definitely worse than being alive. When you're dead you can't do all the cool stuff you can do when you're alive. You and I, we can do all kinds of cool stuff 'cause we're living, we're not dead, we're alive. If we were dead we wouldn't be able to do all the cool stuff we can do, because we're alive. Dead people can't do cool stuff. Only people that are alive can do cool stuff, 'cause they're living, and you have to be living to be able to do cool stuff. You have to be alive. Yeah, 'cept when you're alive sometimes bad stuff happens too. Like sometimes you can get into a car wreck, or you can have a headache or twist your ankle or even stub your big toe... So being alive is kinda hard too, but I think it's definitely better than being dead…”
With that thought in mind, we called the Davis Shore Ferry Service and asked how long our vacation might last. It was explained to us that the park service evacuates the island 48 - 72 hours in advance of any potential landfall. They fully expected the Park Service to begin evac on Wednesday morning. That would give us a total of one day to enjoy the riptides and potential campsite floods from high surf. HHHmmmm.
Family discussion left us with a consensus, cancel the beach trip…..so instead of continuing southeast, we turned right and headed for the mountains. Our latitude brought us to the Mount Rogers recreation area and we proceeded to find a campsite in the very empty, but appropriately named Hurricane Campground. Boogie boards and all, we still wound up in the middle of a Hurricane. That evening, while eating hot dogs and Mac and Cheese, we listened to the NOAA weather report of Earl attaining Category 5 status. Yeah, I'm sitting in a campground, but it's clean, quiet, and nestled by trees…..I'll gladly give up a Cat 5 hurricane for this one.
IMG_0011 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0017 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0023 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Tuesday August 31st
Beth and I woke up to the raucus sound of surf crashing on the…..well, not so much the sound of surf as the sound of chipmunks. Well, not chipmunks, rather chipmunk. This one sounded like he had hiccups. A chipmunk with hiccups….chippucks, if you will. Since we were supposed to be on the beach today, we had planned on fish and chips for dinner; no ocean, no fishing. This little creature is aggravating, we've got a slingshot, maybe we could get some chipmunk for dinner. We could have Chips N Chips. MMMM, could be a new favorite.
We did encounter some sea life early in the morning.....well, maybe not sealife, but hey, he had a shell fer cryin out loud!
IMG_0033 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
and this thing too
IMG_0039 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
We drove up to the nearby Ranger Station to buy (another) map of the Mount Rogers Recreation Area. We spent some time speaking with the ranger about the hurricane, and asked about dispersed camping in the area. Judging from her response, she thought we were backpackers (not for about 20 years now), and proceeded to explain to us the camping regs off the Appalachian Trail. After we explained to her our truck camping situation, she said she knew dispersed camping was allowed, but didn't know of any spots; we'd just have to find something along a forest road…..“besides the campground you're at is very nice”. We agreed with her on that point and thanked her for her time as we left.
We continued on our way, adding the Marion fish hatchery as a tourist stop. They had some very old and rough looking mounts on display, and a few tanks displaying live turtles and a Water Snake. Fish feed was available by the bucket for the asking and we cheerfully fed trout of all sizes. They fed voraciously, splashing water all over to the delight of our daughter.
IMG_0042 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0046 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Moving on down the beach….I mean into the forest, we started touring forest roads, looking for campsites. The roads were graded gravel, the camps we found were also less than stellar. None of the sites were as clean, neat, pretty or as level as we like - or as the campground we were already in. Nothing we found was really worth tagging as a GPS waypoint. Looks like we'll wind up staying in another campground for this vacation, too. At least it's quiet, and the surf isn‘t crashing through our tents….
Back at camp, we fired up our new Cadac Safari Chef grill, and I grilled up some nice, juicy bacon cheeseburgers. A few nachos and cheese on the side and MMMM, it was a little slice of heaven right there on the beach, er, mountain.
IMG_0052 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0056 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
　
Wednesday September 1st
There's some good hiking trails in this area of the state. We picked two trails for today, Dickey Knob and Comers Creek. Dickey Knob trail switchbacks it's way up the knob opening up to a view of a little farming community in the valley below. Near the summit, is an old fire road that we decided to follow and we made our way up to an ex lighthou….I mean, firetower. Ex, because all that remains is the footers the tower stood on. They make a nice place to rest and relax in the woods for a bit.
IMG_0067 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim65wagon/5006017177/
IMG_0069 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Nearby we found a benchmark. I always find these interesting, and always read them and take a photograph of them.
IMG_0064 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
The tower footing my wife rested upon had some Harvestmen (Grand-daddy Longlegs) fighting it out over some particularly interesting (to harvestmen) cracks in the concrete. One of them was viciously grabbing and pulling the other two out to take their places.
IMG_0070 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0072 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Back down the hill and to the truck we had our bagel sandwiches for lunch. We've recently discovered that bagels make great sandwiches and are way more durable than bread for trips.
After a brief respite (nap) at camp, Beth, Maddy and I hiked along Comers Creek. It's a short hike through the woods winding along the pretty creek until it reaches one of the nearby forest roads that crosses the creek. It wasn't as pleasant as it could have been, gnats and mosquitoes were out in force and didn't seem to care that we were covered in Deep Woods Off….I think they rather enjoyed the extra seasoning. Along the way we were tasting some of the edible wild plants. Maddy has a book on the subject and we walked along identifying and eating what we could safely identify. Nettles (never had them before) are quite good, but Smartweed, not so much. The Partridgeberries were exactly as the book described _ not much flavor and seedy, but if you're hungry they make a pretty addition to a salad.
The plants weren't enough for me, so tonight we broke out the grill again. Beth cut potatos and fried up some tasty home-made French fries, while I took care of the steaks. It all came out looking lovely and tasted delicious, although I'll be the first to admit, I overcooked the steaks a bit - but I'll blame that on a propane grill, which I'm not used to using yet…..it's always charcoal at home….
IMG_0089 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
and yes, we are following our beach menu, same food, different hurricane
IMG_0091 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
　
There's nothing more relaxing than a week on the beach…..absolutely nothing pressing to do, no work, no meetings, nothing of import to attend to. The beach we prefer is particularly suitable to just such relaxation; Cape Lookout National Seashore on the South Core Island of the outer banks of North Carolina. Why? Because once across the sound, the ferry service drops you off , you and yours can be so nearly alone it feels like your very own island in the sun.
Last year, while sitting on this very same island Beth and I agreed to return in 2010. Plans were laid for our venture, we found out when schools started for the fall, got our vacations approved and spent the next 6 months waiting. As the time for our departure grew nearer, we began weather watching. Late summer is hurricane season and we watched as Tropical Storm Danielle formed into a hurricane. We let out a sigh of relief when she swung North and spared our island a hit……that sigh of relief didn't last long as we watched hurricane Earl coming in right behind. Early predictions showed the slight possibility of a hit on Saturday September 4th. We decided it was still quite likely to get in at least a few days of beach time. Over the weekend we got the truck prepped and packed with the requisite beach gear, sandals, swimsuits, boogie boards, surf rods, etc
IMG_0003 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim65wagon/5005935415/
IMG_0005 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Monday August 30th
So, here we are, up at daylight, watching the weather channel, with Earl predicted with greater accuracy to hit the island the upcoming Friday the 3rd. OK so maybe staying until Thursday is still feasible, right? We took off for our 4:00PM ferry appointment in Davis, NC, taking with us the Ferry Service phone number, ready to inquire just how serious the situation may be getting. Never having been through a hurricane we decided to defer to someone local and knowledgeable in the Park Services decisions.
As we drove south we discussed our potential vacation. The seas were rough, riptides were being widely announced on the news as the storms riled up the ocean and people were being advised not to enter the waters on the east coast. Since the hurricane has the unlikely name of Earl, we began to associate it with the much enjoyed TV show. Making comments about the riptides and high winds, we decided we probably wouldn't get any time in the ocean. You know the saying; “the worst case scenario is death” and as Randy Hickey says:
“Being dead is definitely worse than being alive. When you're dead you can't do all the cool stuff you can do when you're alive. You and I, we can do all kinds of cool stuff 'cause we're living, we're not dead, we're alive. If we were dead we wouldn't be able to do all the cool stuff we can do, because we're alive. Dead people can't do cool stuff. Only people that are alive can do cool stuff, 'cause they're living, and you have to be living to be able to do cool stuff. You have to be alive. Yeah, 'cept when you're alive sometimes bad stuff happens too. Like sometimes you can get into a car wreck, or you can have a headache or twist your ankle or even stub your big toe... So being alive is kinda hard too, but I think it's definitely better than being dead…”
With that thought in mind, we called the Davis Shore Ferry Service and asked how long our vacation might last. It was explained to us that the park service evacuates the island 48 - 72 hours in advance of any potential landfall. They fully expected the Park Service to begin evac on Wednesday morning. That would give us a total of one day to enjoy the riptides and potential campsite floods from high surf. HHHmmmm.
Family discussion left us with a consensus, cancel the beach trip…..so instead of continuing southeast, we turned right and headed for the mountains. Our latitude brought us to the Mount Rogers recreation area and we proceeded to find a campsite in the very empty, but appropriately named Hurricane Campground. Boogie boards and all, we still wound up in the middle of a Hurricane. That evening, while eating hot dogs and Mac and Cheese, we listened to the NOAA weather report of Earl attaining Category 5 status. Yeah, I'm sitting in a campground, but it's clean, quiet, and nestled by trees…..I'll gladly give up a Cat 5 hurricane for this one.
IMG_0011 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0017 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0023 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Tuesday August 31st
Beth and I woke up to the raucus sound of surf crashing on the…..well, not so much the sound of surf as the sound of chipmunks. Well, not chipmunks, rather chipmunk. This one sounded like he had hiccups. A chipmunk with hiccups….chippucks, if you will. Since we were supposed to be on the beach today, we had planned on fish and chips for dinner; no ocean, no fishing. This little creature is aggravating, we've got a slingshot, maybe we could get some chipmunk for dinner. We could have Chips N Chips. MMMM, could be a new favorite.
We did encounter some sea life early in the morning.....well, maybe not sealife, but hey, he had a shell fer cryin out loud!
IMG_0033 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
and this thing too
IMG_0039 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
We drove up to the nearby Ranger Station to buy (another) map of the Mount Rogers Recreation Area. We spent some time speaking with the ranger about the hurricane, and asked about dispersed camping in the area. Judging from her response, she thought we were backpackers (not for about 20 years now), and proceeded to explain to us the camping regs off the Appalachian Trail. After we explained to her our truck camping situation, she said she knew dispersed camping was allowed, but didn't know of any spots; we'd just have to find something along a forest road…..“besides the campground you're at is very nice”. We agreed with her on that point and thanked her for her time as we left.
We continued on our way, adding the Marion fish hatchery as a tourist stop. They had some very old and rough looking mounts on display, and a few tanks displaying live turtles and a Water Snake. Fish feed was available by the bucket for the asking and we cheerfully fed trout of all sizes. They fed voraciously, splashing water all over to the delight of our daughter.
IMG_0042 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0046 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Moving on down the beach….I mean into the forest, we started touring forest roads, looking for campsites. The roads were graded gravel, the camps we found were also less than stellar. None of the sites were as clean, neat, pretty or as level as we like - or as the campground we were already in. Nothing we found was really worth tagging as a GPS waypoint. Looks like we'll wind up staying in another campground for this vacation, too. At least it's quiet, and the surf isn‘t crashing through our tents….
Back at camp, we fired up our new Cadac Safari Chef grill, and I grilled up some nice, juicy bacon cheeseburgers. A few nachos and cheese on the side and MMMM, it was a little slice of heaven right there on the beach, er, mountain.
IMG_0052 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0056 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
　
Wednesday September 1st
There's some good hiking trails in this area of the state. We picked two trails for today, Dickey Knob and Comers Creek. Dickey Knob trail switchbacks it's way up the knob opening up to a view of a little farming community in the valley below. Near the summit, is an old fire road that we decided to follow and we made our way up to an ex lighthou….I mean, firetower. Ex, because all that remains is the footers the tower stood on. They make a nice place to rest and relax in the woods for a bit.
IMG_0067 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim65wagon/5006017177/
IMG_0069 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Nearby we found a benchmark. I always find these interesting, and always read them and take a photograph of them.
IMG_0064 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
The tower footing my wife rested upon had some Harvestmen (Grand-daddy Longlegs) fighting it out over some particularly interesting (to harvestmen) cracks in the concrete. One of them was viciously grabbing and pulling the other two out to take their places.
IMG_0070 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
IMG_0072 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
Back down the hill and to the truck we had our bagel sandwiches for lunch. We've recently discovered that bagels make great sandwiches and are way more durable than bread for trips.
After a brief respite (nap) at camp, Beth, Maddy and I hiked along Comers Creek. It's a short hike through the woods winding along the pretty creek until it reaches one of the nearby forest roads that crosses the creek. It wasn't as pleasant as it could have been, gnats and mosquitoes were out in force and didn't seem to care that we were covered in Deep Woods Off….I think they rather enjoyed the extra seasoning. Along the way we were tasting some of the edible wild plants. Maddy has a book on the subject and we walked along identifying and eating what we could safely identify. Nettles (never had them before) are quite good, but Smartweed, not so much. The Partridgeberries were exactly as the book described _ not much flavor and seedy, but if you're hungry they make a pretty addition to a salad.
The plants weren't enough for me, so tonight we broke out the grill again. Beth cut potatos and fried up some tasty home-made French fries, while I took care of the steaks. It all came out looking lovely and tasted delicious, although I'll be the first to admit, I overcooked the steaks a bit - but I'll blame that on a propane grill, which I'm not used to using yet…..it's always charcoal at home….
IMG_0089 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
and yes, we are following our beach menu, same food, different hurricane
IMG_0091 by jim65wagon, on Flickr
　
