Date:         Fri, 3 Sep 1999 09:10:11 -0400
Reply-To:     David Bogle <bogle@BWAY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Bogle <bogle@BWAY.NET>
Subject:      (F)Trip Rpt: Cape Lookout NS
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Well it's time for my trip report.  Thanks to Louize who referred me to
a campground in Hatteras while enroute.

Cape Lookout National Seashore is a barrier island on the North Carolina
coast. It is something like 56 miles of undeveloped beach.  It is very
similar to Cape Hatteras NS, just no towns, no paved roads, etc.  There
is a fishing camp with cabins at the ferry landing.  From there, south,
it is about 15 miles to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse.  We drove a little
ways down, but not to the lighthouse.  Many areas of the beach are
cordoned off from driving to protect sea turtle nesting areas.  Dennis
has apparently washed away up to 80% of these since we were there.

It is a beautiful island with low dunes and a few scrubby trees on the
bay side where the marsh is.  The bay is very shallow along here and
much narrower than to the north.  For more info try these webpages:

http://www.nps.gov/calo/
http://www.nationalparks.org/guide/parks/cape-lookout-1835.htm

The privately operated ferry takes up to about 4 cars, and they
"reccommend" 4WD for a good reason.  The sand is deep and soft.  The
syncro had no problem, but it felt real heavy and did not quite have the
clearance that most of the vehicles that drive there must have.  Every
now and then we would tap the hump of sand between the ruts.  No big
deal, it's soft stuff.

We did have a great week on the beach.  We camped in the westy, and our
freinds stayed in their tent.  It was quite an adventure (read
nightmare) the
first night out, when, about dusk, the mosquitoes came out.  Before we
could get inside and zip it up there were many inside.  We killed them
and killed them and got bitten and got bitten.  Taped up the places we
thought that they may be getting in, until finally they thinned out.
Outside on the windows and screens there were thousands covering every
inch of the lee side.  I have never seen so many mosquitoes.  They said
it is the worst year since '91 or so, mild winter doesn't kill the
larvae.

Our new sliding door screen was useful, but it does not come close to
sealing at it's edges.  Who thought of the snaps.  The only thing they
are good for is holding it in place while the duct tape is applied.

By light of dawn they were gone.  However, the no-see-ums were
everywhere.  They come straight through the "mosquito" screens on the
bus.  Needless to
say, we got up _early_ that day and enjoyed the sunrise down by the
water.  They only lasted until the sun was up for an hour or so.  Then,
back to paradise island... until dusk.  We were really ready for them
that evening (more duct tape, and evacuation of areas they could hide
in, etc.) and things were fine inside.  Also, there were progressively
fewer and fewer mosquitoes each night.  There had been some rain a day
before
we got there, and that seemed to really bring them out.

Did I mention the dog flies, yellow flies, green heads, and, oh yes, the
crabs were thick in the water, though we could not see them.  Visibility
was only about a foot in the surf churned water.  Beyond a depth of
about two and a half feet of water and I was _swimming & treading_
water, after stepping on and having them grab me a few times.  After
Claudia was grabbed by a quite sturdy crab and shook it off (brought
blood, in fact, and through her aqua shoes) she abstained completely
from the watery
respite.

Millions of coquinas, 1/2 to 1" shell creatures,  were in the sand and
it was fun to watch them come up and go down with the waves.  Some
storms with light rain came on Friday as we took down our tarps and
packed up.  We drove up and down the sandy island a bit, along the beach
except where the turtle nesting detours are.  The driving was fun in the
deep sand.  The 4WD did the trick.  Usually I was in second at about
3000 rpms.

The fridge stopped working after a couple of days.  I guess it's time to
clean the burner or something.  Turned out that there is a caretaker at
the camp and they have ice for sale.  In fact, they will radio for just
about whatever you want and send it over on the ferry.

--
Regards,
David Bogle
Brooklyn
'87 Syncro Westfalia