Check out this great road trip through the Outer Banks with National Geographic! It’s part of their National Geographic’s Drives of a Lifetime Series, and features stops at excellent spots along the way, including Jockey’s Ridge, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and of course, Ocracoke village.
“Nature still rules this tendril of barrier islands, despite the creep of development in some Outer Banks towns. Marsh grasses bend to light breezes in Pea Island Wildlife Refuge; just up the road, long-billed herons, ibises, oystercatchers, and plovers feed in the tea-colored waters of Pamlico Sound; and out in the Atlantic, surfers and sea kayakers frolic in the breakers.
Overview
This 114-mile (183-kilometer) drive cruises from Corolla to Ocracoke Village. Start at the northern end of Highway 12, literally where the pavement turns to sand at the Currituck Banks Estuarine Reserve. Follow it to Route 158, which is the bypass road for Highway 12 and travels through Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head. Rejoin Highway 12 at Whalebone Junction (the entrance to Cape Hatteras National Seashore), and stay on it all the way to Ocracoke Village, including the car ferry from Hatteras Village to Ocracoke Island. The route, mostly two-lane, runs straight and flat, linking communities of weathered beach houses, offering ocean views amid the dunes, and serving up extended vistas of the sound.”
[box type=”bio”] Take a ride with National Geographic: read the rest of the story HERE.[/box]
[box type=”info”] For more of the world’s greatest driving tours, get National Geographic’s new book Drives of a Lifetime.[/box]