The weather forecast for this weekend was too good to pass up so I made my fifth roadtrip in six weeks and my fourth to the Outer Banks. On the way down, I made a little detour up to Corolla and added the Currituck Lighthouse to my US Lighthouse Passport. Getting to Oregon Inlet Campground in late afternoon, I set up camp, grabbed the REV 1.5 and headed down to the beach below Oregon Inlet and spent the afternoon trying to master quad-line kiting. I finished the night with a pound of steamed shrimp at the OBX classic raw bar – “Awful Arthur’s.”
The wind really kicked up during the night and it was still averaging over 20 mph Saturday morning but I had planned on a long bike ride so I got out early and headed off to Manns Harbor. It took me 32 minutes to cross the 5 mile long Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge over to Manns Harbor. I actually had to pedal down the high-rise just to keep moving. Heading east, however, over the old Manns Harbor Bridge back to Roanoke Island, I cruised along at 25 to 30 mph and covered the 2.7 miles in 7 minutes (including a stop for a flagman and some maintenance workers). In order to get in 50 miles, I headed down to Wanchese before finishing a grueling 7 miles into the wind back to Oregon Inlet. I ended up with 55 miles in just under 4 hours – my longest ride of the season.
REV 1.5 at Sunset
After a taking a cold shower, drinking a cold beer, and relaxing for little while, I drove back over to Manteo and pick up my 8th lighthouse stamp for the Roanoke Marshes Lightstation. The wind was still up so I grabbed the REV and hit the beach at the campground for some more quad line flying. The afternoon ended with a beautiful sunset as well.
Beamer IV 2.0
Sunday was a bit calmer so I headed down to Oregon Inlet with the Beamer 2.0 for some power kiting. I haven’t had much opportunity to work with the quad line power kites (just too windy for my taste) so I decided to just stay with the 2 meter. As it turns out, I probably could have flown the 5 meter but the 2 meter was still able to give some good pulls.
Since the campground was practically empty on the “C” loop, I was able to fly the REV for another hour before breaking camp and checking out right at noon. Another great weekend on the Outer Banks!
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.
I met up with some old college roommates for their annual camping/trout fishing trip to the Jackson River this past weekend. Not being an avid fisherman, I took the opportunity to do some mountain biking in the George Washington National Forest.
Suspension Bridge over Jackson River
After arriving around noon on Friday and setting up camp, I hopped on the bike for a little exploring. I wasn’t expecting to go too far so I didn’t bother with maps or GPS. I wound up on the single-track section of the “Hidden Valley” trail which parallels the Jackson River. It eventually connected with some double-track and seemed to continue on indefinitely – so after 5 miles, I turned back, crossed the river on a suspended bridge, and returned to the campground for a beer.
Road leading to Hidden Valley Campground
Saturday morning I decided to ride the actual “Hidden Valley” loop described in the book “Mountain Biking Virginia” (ride #35). It’s a nice 15 mile loop that begins on Forest Service roads before connecting back to the double and single-track that I rode the previous day. Some of the single-track was a bit too technical (rocky, rooted, and unforgivably perched on the side of the mountain) for my tasted, so I wound up walking about a half-mile section.
On Sunday, I headed over to the Buena Vista Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway for the “Blue Ridge Dirt Ride” (#40 in “Mountain Biking Virginia”). It’s a nice 15 mile loop on on Forest Service roads with only the last 3 to 4 miles on the Parkway. As you can see from the elevation profile, the ride starts with a 1000 feet descent over the first 4 miles. Now that’s “commitment”.
A great time spent with old friends, good mountain biking, and topped off with some fresh trout cooked on the grill. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.
