By: Warren Gray
Copyright © 2023
“I don’t think we could continue the war without the Jeep.
It does everything. It goes everywhere. It’s as faithful as a dog,
as strong as a mule, and as agile as a goat. It constantly carries
twice what it was designed for, and still keeps on going.”
— Ernie Pyle, famous World War II war correspondent, June 4, 1943.
The beautiful Outer Banks (abbreviated OBX) of North Carolina are a spectacular tourist mecca of barrier islands facing the Atlantic Ocean, normally populated by 58,000 yearlong, local residents, but the hot summer months draw an additional 200,000+ visitors each year. The greatest concentration lies between Corolla and Nags Head, just east of Currituck Sound, along a 21-mile stretch of nonstop hotels, restaurants, condos, and shopping centers. This is where the Wright brothers flew the world’s first powered airplane in 1903, and the strands of islands remain ever-popular, even today.
It’s so wildly popular, in fact, that the prices of virtually everything are through the roof, with our modest, standard-sized, beachfront room at an average hotel costing a whopping $490 per night, after a 30-percent discount for booking early. It was normally $700! My wife and I have traveled around the world, especially during my lengthy Air Force career, and even at the most expensive European destinations, we never paid any amount approximating even half of that. The restaurant prices were also quite exorbitant, and even the local creamery charged $15 for three scoops of Black Forest ice cream!
Yes, the Atlantic Ocean and the wide, sandy beaches were amazing, but everywhere we went, there were hustling, bustling crowds of tourists, excessively long waits for tables at restaurants, throngs of vacationing people all over the beaches, and outrageous prices for everything.
Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean at Kill Devil Hills, NC, June 28, 2023. Photo by author
So, in search of a little temporary peace, quiet, sanity, nature, and relative solitude, we ventured southward one morning to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, on Route 64 West, past Mann’s Harbor. This heavily-wooded wetland is home to alligators, black bears, bobcats, red wolves, river otters, tundra swans, and a variety of other wildlife and waterfowl. The roads are mostly unpaved, and we explored the area for over an hour in our all-wheel-drive Subaru Forester XT, sighting nothing in particular.
But, as we were driving back out, turning north onto Koehring Road from Cedar Road, I spotted a moving, black dot along the eastern treeline about a half-mile up the road, and we closed the distance quickly enough to see a large black bear crossing directly in front of us from right to left. The road was about 16 feet wide, so the bear appeared to be approximately six or more feet long from nose to tail, and probably weighed about 350 to 400 pounds. He took no interest in our slow-rolling vehicle, however, and quickly disappeared into the alligator-infested wetlands on the west side of the road.
Black bear in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, June 28, 2023. Photo by author
Another option for quiet seclusion and escaping the ever-present crowds was Coquina Beach on Bodie Island, part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, about six miles south of the Route 64 turnoff toward Alligator River, on Route 12. Our oldest son had rented a 2010 Jeep Wrangler for $300 per day, somewhat rusty from the sea air and worse for the wear, but still quite serviceable, and we stopped briefly at Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Ramp 2 beside the beach to reduce the air pressure in all four tires to 20 psi or less, for safe traction on the soft, sandy beaches.
Between Ramp 2 and Ramp 4, farther down the shoreline, were two and a half miles of beautiful, wide, unpopulated beach, perfectly legal for off-road vehicles, which were thankfully very few and far between that morning. Only a mile and a half farther south, the beach dead-ended at Oregon Inlet, so the initial stretch was ours to stop and enjoy in peace and harmony for a few very happy hours.
Jeep exploration and swooping pelicans on Coquina Beach, NC, June 27, 2023. Photos by author
A mere 100 yards offshore, just beyond the breakers, a group of sleek, bottlenose dolphins swam past, their dark-gray dorsal fins and arched backs clearing the surface of the water, and one of them even playfully jumped into the air and splashed back into the rolling ocean again. Overhead, a large flock of brown pelicans soared, and swooped, and skimmed, with wingspans of more than six feet, hunting for fish just beyond the pounding surf, and dove boldly into the water to catch them. It was a spectacle of nature to be savored and appreciated, well distant from the crowded beaches farther north. The Outer Banks are also home for herds of wild horses (feral Spanish mustangs), descended from the hardy survivors of sunken Spanish galleons off the North Carolina coastline in the late 1500s.
Off-road Jeep adventures may not be for everyone, but sometimes it’s the only way to break away from the teeming crowds and quietly experience the majestic beauty of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), the great essayist, wrote, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail.” Much later, the famous poet Robert Frost wrote in 1916, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
The lesson here is to sometimes get off the beaten path, off the main roads, and take some precious time to enjoy the vast wonders of nature in peace and quiet, to witness the wildlife in their natural habitat, smell the salty sea air, feel the wind in your hair, and soak in the true marvels of this world, if only for a few incredible hours.
* * *
Author in Jeep Wrangler at the beach. Photo by Kelly Gray
Warren Gray is a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with experience in joint special operations and counterterrorism. He served in Europe and the Middle East, earned Air Force and Navy parachutist wings, four college degrees, including a Master of Aeronautical Science degree, and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Intelligence Operations Specialist Course, and the USAF Combat Targeting School. He is currently a published author and historian.