Outer Banks in Oct & Nov

Tail end of hurricane season, OBX not where you want to be if a storm comes through. If so, make sure you bail out early. I wouldn't be wanting to cross those bridges in a storm. Our trip back from Rodanthe last year was in 30 mph winds and the trip across the 158 bridge was white knuckle.

Hatteras KOA has several sites right on the back side of the dune. There's really no waterfront. Camp Hatteras is the same.

Further up, there are a couple of RV parks in Kitty Hawk. That part of the OBX has more stuff (stores etc).

We enjoyed the OBX in May.

I agree with Jerry & Jeanne, if you want to get away from the organized rat race, go to either Camp Hatteras or the Hatteras KOA. Very relaxing. Camp Hatteras is on either side of the highway. You can get water view sites on the Pamlico Sound side.

We go each year in May and Oct or November. Never a problem with weather...yet. Have always gone to Camp Hatteras. I want to check out a campground in Ocracoke and intend to do so on our next trip. Fishing in Oct is usually pretty good.

We like to surf fish, so we head even further down to Frisco Woods Campground in Frisco. Sound side rather than Ocean side, but there are waterfront sites with fantastic views of the sound and sunsets. We access the beach by truck, and there is a good ramp about a mile away. There are other parking areas not too far away where you can park right on the other side of the dunes.

If you don't mind boondocking, the federal campgrounds are very nice and also cheap, but no hookups. There is one by Oregon Inlet, one by the lighthouse in Buxton, one in the dunes in Frisco, and one just over the dunes on Ocracoke Island.

We usually go in the early summer, but have been there for Thanksgiving - the weather can be "iffy" but we have always been able to fish on the beach.

Slightly off topic but close enough: in trip planning, forget the Driftwood restaurant, motel and campground on Cedar Island by the ferry to Ocracoke. They closed the doors last week for good. It had been in bad shape for years so we knew this was coming.

On Edit: Correction, maybe...tonight's paper says the motel and restaurant are definitely closed but that the campground will stay open. I don't know how that will work because there isn't an office. Maybe they'll do an honor system? I'll report back if we hear anything.

Don't think the CGs in Kitty Hawk are still there. Friends own a home at Jockey's Ridge and we visit them often and know the one CG just south of there is gone.

Another vote for Frisco Woods - not as 'upscale' as Camp Hatteras or KOA but we like that section of the OBX better.

The Oregon Inlet and Frisco Cape Hatteras NS campgrounds close on Columbus Day and Ocracoke on the last Monday in October. Sure wish the Park Service would leave at least one open year round.

Belgique - thanks for the heads up on Driftwood's closing. We had planned on staying there overnight in early May in order to make the 7 AM ferry from Atlantic to Portsmouth Island. I kinda liked that place - only motel I ever stayed in that had the desk clerk knock on our door for a wake up call.

huachuca wrote:
Belgique - thanks for the heads up on Driftwood's closing. We had planned on staying there overnight in early May in order to make the 7 AM ferry from Atlantic to Portsmouth Island. I kinda liked that place - only motel I ever stayed in that had the desk clerk knock on our door for a wake up call.

Correction, maybe...tonight's paper says the motel and restaurant are definitely closed but that the campground will stay open. I don't know how that will work because there isn't an office. Maybe they'll do an honor system? I'll report back if we hear anything.

Fort Huachuca?

Appreciate the updated info.

Yeah, 72F40 buck sgt w/ STRATCOM 69-70. Pretty good duty for a draftee in those days. You have any connection to the place?

Al

Huchuca: sent you a PM