Driving on beach in outer banks

[2003silverado]

I have a question for those who have been to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

My wife and I are staying at an inn on the Outer Banks for 5 nights the first week of April. This is our first trip to the Outer Banks, and I have always heard a major attraction to the area is simply driving on the beach. What I am curious about is how many miles of beach can you actually drive on? The reason I am asking is because we are traveling from Michigan and I know that in order to drive on the beach we will need to take our Silverado because we will need 4 wheel drive, rather than taking our Cruze which gets over twice the fuel milage, but obviously won't be able to drive it on the beach.

Personally, on longer trips I prefer the comfort and size of the truck, but economically the Cruze makes more since as we will not be taking the camper. I like the prospect of driving the beach if there are a number of miles of beach to drive on and see the sites, but if there is only a miles here or there to drive on it would make more since to drive the car and walk the beach.

What do the experts have to say? How many miles can you actually drive on?

Thanks,

Mike

[huachuca]

Shadow57 wrote:
We went 2 years ago and you couldn't rent jeeps to ride on the beach anymore. I wouldn't let my husband drive our Dodge Nitro thought we would get stuck. We saw so many jeeps while there we actually came home and bought one, and I think you can rent them from rental car places in town.

Since we now have a motor home we would love to find somewhere to camp and take side by sides to ride on the beach. However if I remember correct you can ride them on the beach if you live in NC but you can't bring them in from other states. Does anyone know of anywhere in the area you can camp and ride on the beach? If you live in another state.

Like many small businesses on the Outer Banks, the 4WD rental places seem to come and go. I'm not familiar with what's available at the northern end but these folks are in Salvo and have been around for some time Island Cruisers

There aren't any restrictions for out of state vehicles nor does a NC registration carry any weight for beach access. ATV's, UTV's and motorcycles are not allowed on any Cape Hatteras NS beaches per Park Service regs.

The beach driving rules at Cape Lookout National Seashore are much less restrictive. Currently, ATV's and UTV's are allowed. Access is by private ferry only. There are no roads so your class "A" would be out but you can take your jeep or ATV/UTV over and have twenty miles of uninhabited island to play on. Tent camping is allowed in most places or the Park Service has cabins with showers, flush johns and bunk beds at very reasonable rates. Our preference is the Portsmouth Island section.

[wbwood]

garmp1 wrote:

wbwood wrote:
Here's some footage of the beach. This is at Oregon Inlet. There's vehicle access to the beach next to the campground.

Which campground?

Oregon Inlet Campground

[Hobo2]

Had a place on Hatteras island for 13 years. Tire pressure is the key to getting around. We kept our tires right at 15 lbs. At all times. We sold that place 5 years ago. It's just gotten to crowded in the summer.

[Shadow57]

We went 2 years ago and you couldn't rent jeeps to ride on the beach anymore. I wouldn't let my husband drive our Dodge Nitro thought we would get stuck. We saw so many jeeps while there we actually came home and bought one, and I think you can rent them from rental car places in town.

Since we now have a motor home we would love to find somewhere to camp and take side by sides to ride on the beach. However if I remember correct you can ride them on the beach if you live in NC but you can't bring them in from other states. Does anyone know of anywhere in the area you can camp and ride on the beach? If you live in another state.

[Oldtymeflyr]

Look at the regulations where you are going to be, there are more than a few requirements. Oh, you will have to get a permit, pay for the same.

Our conclusion after a few trips to the Outbanks is to walk on the beach.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

Probably Oregon Inlet

I don't think there is a commercial FHU CG within 5 or 8 miles of there.

[garmp]

wbwood wrote:
Here's some footage of the beach. This is at Oregon Inlet. There's vehicle access to the beach next to the campground.

Which campground?

[wbwood]

Here's some footage of the beach. This is at Oregon Inlet. There's vehicle access to the beach next to the campground.

[huachuca]

Your truck will be fine. As mentioned by others, just drop the air pressure to around 16 psi BEFORE hitting the beach. Most of the vehicles you'll see out there are much less off-road capable than a 3/4 ton 4WD Silverado.

Whether taking the truck is worth the extra cost and inconvenience is something only you can decide. The OBX weather in early April can be a bit of a gamble. Having the option of driving out on the beach to watch a sunrise even if its windy and cold would make it worthwhile to me.

Check your PM for other suggestions.

Al

[kohldad]

IMO, 5 nights at the beach doesn't justify driving the truck from Michigan. You will have more than enough to keep you busy that you won't have time to twiddle your thumbs and wish you had the truck.

If you do take the truck, make sure you take a compressor to air the tires back up. Not all locations have pumps to air them up.

[2003silverado]

Thanks for the responses.

My truck is is a 2012 gasser 2500hd Chevy. I have been watching a number of educational videos on YouTube about driving on the beach. I'll throw the proper equipment in the tool box in case we get stuck, and if it looks like it's going to be a battle to keep from getting stuck we may decide to rent a jeep, or just find other things to do. In general though I have never liked renting vehicles. From my research it looks like the difference between getting stuck repeatedly and having an easily time is letting the proper amount of air out of the tires.

As mentioned above we need to avoid any salt water puddles because it's corrosive, but how much worse is the salt water than the heavily salted roads here in Michigan?

[Campinghoss]

If your truck is a diesel you will certainly have to get the pressure down to drive the beaches. You might not have to release as much air if it is a gas model but you still need to get some air out. I have driven the beaches surf fishing with different models but now I only use my jeep with wide tires on it.

If you just want to sight see I would do like other posters have suggested and rent a four x four to do that. If you see you really enjoy it then you can make a return trip with your truck and be better prepared.

And yes there is a lot of beach you can drive on from Corolla to Cape Point including Ocracoke island. As someone else posted it is a large area.

[wbwood]

When we were there last summer, we saw a mixture of vehicles. Anything from SUV's to big jacked up trucks. The big trucks were the ones having the most difficult time. As mentioned about the permit, there are other requirements that you must have certain items when driving on the beach.

I agree about the soft sand. It was very difficult for us to even walk on. I will look through our video files. I might have some video of the beach around the Oregon Inlet campground, where we stayed.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

The sand there is very soft. Getting to the harder wet sand can be a big challenge. I would suggest finding a keep rental place on the internet, call and talk to them.

I didn't see any vehicles on the beach with normal highway tires. They all had oversized, extra wide tires with very low air pressure.