Outer Banks National Seashore camping

We went to Oregon Inlet this past saturday. Supposed to stay a week, but came home on Wednesday. First two nights were great. But the last two were terrible with the wind. Not sure if it was a lot more wind, the fact that the people on both sides left, or a combination of both, but we weren't able to get much sleep the last two nights because of the wind. We literally thought our 33' Class C was being lifted up a couple times. The bugs weren't too bad if you were in the wind, but get behind something and they would eat you up. Mo's OBX Skeeter Beater worked good if you got it all over yourself. But the mosquitos would quickly let you know where you missed. We enjoyed our stay and saw most of the OBX while there. Didn't get to go to Jockey Ridge or the visitors center at the Wright Brothers Memorial, but pretty much saw everything else. Drove all the way down to Ocracoke (via Ferry). Really liked Ocracoke and the northern end (Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, Corolla, Duck)...Didn't really care too much for the Hatteras portion. Just our opinion. Did like Frisco Campground if you can get a site on top of the hill and ocracoke campground. Ocean Waves and the KOA looked nice, but the area wasn't our thing.

For those that follow us on youtube, we have some videos up and more going up soon.

"Heat, humidity, bugs, wet, rain? Sound like a 'Wonderful' place to visit?

Seasonal thing. No hookups, storm potential and other variables mean these places tend to have openings year round. You can also take a look at them here http://bit.ly/1UjwiDi

We set up a 12x12 screen room over the picnic table, place a couple of burning citronella buckets at the entrance and run a thermacell lantern inside which seems to keep them at bay. We were at Frisco over Memorial Day and didn't have too much trouble.

wbwood wrote:
We also just ordered a couple of Ryobi 18v fans...supposedly run over 10 hours on a single charge of the lithium ion battery. The good news is that we already have 3 chargers plus 3 other batteries (ordered 2 more)...so with these...we can use outside to try and keep the mosquitos at bay, or inside along with the fantastic fans... We can recharge the batteries during the day when we are running the generator.... will be good for later trips elsewhere also.

If the wind is coming from the sound and is a gentle breeze the skitters will test your fans :) With all this rain I suspect the skitters will be bad. We were at O. Waves for a week right when Bonnie started up the coast and even with the skitter truck spraying the blood suckers were sorta tight. We are going back down there in June too so I will be fighting with you.

We also just ordered a couple of Ryobi 18v fans...supposedly run over 10 hours on a single charge of the lithium ion battery. The good news is that we already have 3 chargers plus 3 other batteries (ordered 2 more)...so with these...we can use outside to try and keep the mosquitos at bay, or inside along with the fantastic fans... We can recharge the batteries during the day when we are running the generator.... will be good for later trips elsewhere also.

barnrt wrote:
I am planning a trip to the Outer Banks in a few weeks. I am looking at the National Seashore campgrounds and notice lots of available sites. Usually these kinds of facilities are booked way in advance. I know there are no hookups, but am I missing something? Is there some reason why sites are so available?

This actually isn't that unusual. I've been camping on Cape Hatteras NS since the mid 60's and have never seen any of the NPS campgrounds full EXCEPT in recent years for Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day weekends. As others have noted, the lack of hookups and cold water only showers is a huge drawback for many.

I called Oregon Inlet yesterday to ask about the generator usage. The only thing I have seen mentioned online was that you couldn't use them during quiet hours. Normally, other places state you can use a couple hours in the morning and a couple in the evening. I wanted to be sure we could use it all day (except quiet hours) if we needed to. They confirmed that we can. We have two fantastic fans to run at night and two brand new group 31 batteries. Also have a 200 watt solar kit coming this week, so we should be good to go...lol

The reason they are open is heat and humidity this time of year. There is no shady,no pool, and a pretty long walk to the beach. And if the wind is really blowing during day time you can't use awning for shade but at least that should help the bug situation. You will be wishing for wind at night. We run two little endless breeze fans

Due to the recent tropical depression that went down the coast line, Cape Point cg at Hatteras has been closed. I don't think many more have but I would call ahead and make sure first. Hatteras received over 12 inches in 6 days so things are a bit soggy at this time. I think the Oregon Inlet cg fared pretty well. I know that the KOA, Camp Hatteras and Ocean Waves campgrounds had a few sites under water for a few days.