Nature trails, crystal beaches and low foot traffic. Pea Island Beach is a great place to see the great natural range of the iconic outer bank. BUT BE CARFUL! Those first few steps are a doozy.
Where the Rubber Meets the Beach
A bit North of Rodanthe is the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Beach. The infamous NC 12 bisects the refuge with the visitor center and parking across the street from the beach. The nature of the wildlife refuge makes this a fairly remote location but the highway makes it easily accessible.
The parking is very limited. No more than 30 parking spaces are in the main parking area. Unfortunately, there are no viable alternatives for several miles. The only other near by parking options are some poorly defined pull-off areas off of NC 12. We came fairly early in the day so parking was not an issue for us but by the time we were leaving, we saw several people circling looking for a spot to open up. This is only 30 minutes from Nags Head, so you can easily add this to your outer banks trip to mix it up.
Kicking Back, Long Style
After gathering our gear we headed across NC 12 for the beach. The crosswalk is a bit treacherous. One direction has a near by turn that makes it hard to see oncoming traffic. Bare in mind, the cars are moving 55+ miles per hour. That being said, if you are patient, you will find an adequate opening to cross safely.
The beach is no more than 10 steps from the other side of the road. The sand dunes are the only barrier between the road and the beach. I was happily surprised to find that nearly all of the sounds of traffic were shielded from the beach by the dunes. Only the occasional semi-truck or very tall RV would register a light traffic “woosh”.
We erected what has become our standard beach setup. Shibumi shade overhead and a beach blanket staked to the ground. Kaitlyn prefers to bring chairs also so we brought those too. As I have mentioned before, we have fallen in love with our Shibumi this summer. Our old fashion beach umbrella bit the dust so we decided to finally make the jump. We have not regretted it.
The beach past the dunes is on the shallow side so you will find yourself close to the water. Because there are no other near by accesses with sizable parking, you can head left or right and easily find a fair size patch of sand to set up. Since the walk from the car is so short, I recommend walking a little ways to make sure you have all the space you could want.
We found the waves a little rough but that could have just been the day we came. Later that same day we went to the Salvo Day Use area which has effectively no waves at all.
What Else?!
I found it nice that the bathrooms are completely separate from the visitor center. One down side was that they did not have sinks for some reason. I am sure it has something to do with the water usage in this remote area. Also as a dad with a toddler, I was a little frustrated that there was not a changing table in the men’s bathroom.
Now this is a nature preserve and as such it does attract many wildlife enthusiasts. The visitor center focuses in on this with some educational displays about local and migrator birds. They also have a really neat indoor observation deck with a telescope. I only ducked in here for a short while but this seemed like a neat way to learn about water fowl. If you forgot you hat or want a souvenir, there is small giftshop in the visitor center also with some very friendly staff.
The last surprise for me was the walking trail. When we parked, we noticed that there was what appeared to be a little over look not to far away on the sound side of the island. Looking around we realized that was a part of the walking trail for the bird watchers. Madilyn was not interested in walking around when the beach was right there so we opted to check this out the next time we come by.
This is also not far from Salvo and Waves. We visited the near by Waterman’s Bar and Grill for lunch and were pleasantly surprised.
If you are planning to bring Fido with you, be careful. Dogs are only allowed on the beach side of NC 12. Do not plan on bringing your furry friend on the nature trail since those are on the other side along with… parking. Consider some other more dog friendly options near by.
Saved By The Dunes
The fact that the beach, the bathrooms, parking visitor center/giftshop and parking are all within 100 yards of each other on a low traffic beach on a remote island would normally make this a 5 star experience for me. Unfortunately, having NC 12 run right through this really detracts from the convenience. Truthfully, the substantial dune line between the beach and the road is what makes this a solid 4 star review.
Overall
The Pea Island Beach is a great taste of outer banks beaches with low foot traffic. The included nature trails and bird watching area is an additional bonus for those looking for new activities on the outer banks. The traffic on NC 12 is a key sore spot that prevent this from being a top notch experience. Still a great place to visit on my way to Hatteras.
If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.
Want more? Subscribe! Or check out our Activity Map for more cool activities
We are now on Etsy! Come Check out our Store and support the site.
