Having passed through the Eastern Shore numerous times on my way to someplace else, it was time to get over there and do a little exploring. It was over 90 degrees and biking didn’t too appealing so I loaded up the kayak and took off. The first stop was the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge visitor center where I was able to snag passport stamps for both Eastern Shore NWR and Fisherman Island NWR as well as the Cape Charles Lighthouse stamp. After checking out the trails around the old WWII gun bunker, I headed down to the kayak/canoe launch to hit the Bay. In addition to the kayak/canoe launch, there’s a boat ramp (fee required) a little further down the road for those with trailers. 
After a short paddle through the marsh, I headed out into the Bay and paddled over to Smith Island – the site of the Cape Charles Lighthouse. I really wanted to go ashore and see if I could check out the lighthouse and WWII observation towers but there wasn’t any clear beach nearby so I paddled down to the point where the beach began and took a short break there. Knowing that I’d be returning into a pretty stiff west wind, I headed on back for about 6.5 miles and a nice two hour paddle.
Eastern Shore Kayaking
June 6, 2010
Bike’n, Kite’n, and Kayak’n
May 6, 2010
Kiteboarders at Cape Hatteras
I ventured a bit further south this weekend and headed down to Cape Hatteras for a weekend of biking, kiting, and kayaking. The weather was great – clear, cool and windy! This brought the kiteboarders out in droves and literally filled the sky with kites in all the popular locations. I camped at one of my favorite sites – the NPS campground at Frisco. Even though it’s an ocean-side campground, it has sites that are located far enough up the dunes that you can get a view of the ocean from your site. Several nice boardwalks provide easy access to the ocean and the beach is nice and wide. After setting up camp, I hit the beach and spent a couple hours flying my new Revolution REV 1.5. What I fun kite! Unfortunately, I snapped a spar and now I’m anxiously awaiting for the replacements to arrive.
Flying the Prism 3-D in the camp site
I got out reasonable early Saturday morning and biked down to Ocracoke (with a nice ride on the Hatteras/Ocracoke Ferry, of course.) The wind was out of the south so I got the hard part over with in the morning. While in Ocracoke, I picked up a new National Park Service and US Lighthouse Society passport stamp, had a snack, and then headed up to the beach across from the Ocracoke Pony Pasture for a little kite flying. After about an hour flying the Snapshot 1.9, I headed back up to the ferry terminal got back to the campground around 2PM. The rest of the afternoon was spent flying a variety of kites.
This is why it's called "Alligator River"
Sunday morning was still pretty windy so I spent about an hour flying the Snapshot 1.9 before breaking camp and heading over to Alligator River for a little paddling. There’s a nice set of “paddling trails” there and I was hoping it would be a bit less windy. Unfortunately, the wind was still pretty stiff on the lake so after a couple of miles along the shore, I took the “red trail” back to the launch site. Along the way, however, I did slip up on a ‘gator. As usual, I was almost on top of him before realizing it wasn’t just a floating log. I quickly backed up and eased a bit further from the shore and was able to drift along beside him for about 30 to 40 yards (keeping a safe distance, of course) before he submerged. I’d guess he was about an 8-10 footer.
On the way home, I stopped at Jockeys Ridge and gave the Beamer IV 2.0 a try. It was still windy so after an hour of getting my butt dragged over the dune, I packed up and headed home.
2010 and Beyond…
January 10, 2010
It looks like 2010 is shaping up to be a pretty active year for me. If things work out in the next few weeks, I’ll be heading out to Durango, Colorado for a little alpine training with Southwest Adventure Guides in the San Juan Mountains in late February or early March.
Although I haven’t worked up any exact dates, I’m hoping to put together a multi-day kayak trip as well as a multi-day bike tour this spring or summer. Still working up the details but both will probably be fairly local and last 3 to 4 days.
The bike legs are coming back and I’m looking forward to riding the Tour de Moore Century down around Pinehurst, North Carolina. The Sandhills Cycle Club has not yet announced the 2010 event but it’s usually held on Labor Day and is always well run and has a great turnout.
The following Friday we fly out to Seattle and spend a couple of days at the Rainier Mountaineering Festival on September 11th and 12th prior to beginning a 4 day summit climb with Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. If all goes well, we’ll be standing on the summit of Mount Rainier on September 18th!
Looking a bit further ahead, I’m starting to work out the logistics of a circumnavigation of Lake Superior in the Spring of 2011. This has been on my “Bucket List” ever since I rode around Lake Ontario in 1998. Looking even further down the road, I’m seriously considering a Himalayan Trek with a guide company like Mountain Madness, Himalayan Experience, or International Mountain Guides in 2012.
As the now defunct National Geographic Adventure magazine’s tagline used to say: “Dream It, Plan It, Do It”. It all starts with the dream.
