Hammocks on the Outer Banks?

[Rob3E]

I did I bicycle tour of the Outer Banks in 2007. We first camped at the Driftwood Motel & Restaurant on Cedar Island. I have never seen so many mosquitoes in the tree section of the campground -- I cannot recommend camping in the trees there. You must get out in the ocean breeze to escape the mosquitoes on Cedar Island.

Once we took the ferry to Ocracoke, we bicycled north to Nags Head, then rode the same route back down to Oracoke. Mosquitoes were not an issue once off Cedar Island.

If you go during summer, expect nights to be very, very warm and humid. In a tent it is uncomfortable, but with a hammock the breeze may be comfortable. On Cedar Island I expect mosquitoes will bite through the bottom of your hammock unless you have a full coverage net or double bottom hammock.

PS. I see you use a Hennessy. When I used a Hennessy Deluxe, mosquitoes bit through the bottom regularly. I now use a double layer hammock exactly because of that reason.

Bryan

Thanks for the warning. I have friends who seemed to have "luck" finding similar mosquito problems on the banks themselves, but it seemed to vary depending on their campsite. I want to say that they ran into big mosquito issues at Oregon Inlet, but stayed in Frisco on another trip and had no problems. It hadn't occurred to me that mosquitoes and trees might go hand in hand, which could be an issue. I haven't had need of an underquilt yet as all of my trips have been in warm, summer, weather. I did just grab an REI space-blanket/tarp to sling underneath in cooler temperatures. Perhaps it, with a foam pad, will protect me from attack from below. I read your CGoaB trip report (assuming that was you, the details seem to match), and the mosquito situation looked pretty awful. I wonder how the situation varies as the season progresses. It will be late August for me, and I've never noticed a bug problem where I've stayed in the past at that time of year, but it's up toward the northern end of the NC banks and close enough to the beach to get the wind off the ocean.

There's still trees in the OBX lol... you'll be fine.

There are even some campgrounds too.

Yes, but are they in the same place? I am hopeful that I can find a campground (although it will be a Friday night, so I'm a little concerned that they'll fill up). Some stretches of the Outer Banks seem to be little more then a strip of sand with a road running through it. Some stretches seem to have much better selections of foliage. I'm hoping to identify areas with good hammock potential so I can plan my stop accordingly. I've been trying to use Google Street View to get an idea, but it's not showing me anything terribly encouraging, so I'm hoping for some folks with personal experience.

[Gqgeek81]

The family and I spent a few days camping through parts of the Outer Banks area. Out of all of my scouting days and all of my military days, these nights were the worst I have ever experienced with mosquitos. Hands down.

I would definitely go again, but I would bring bigger and better mosquito repellant.

Good luck.

STinGa

My bug avoidance plan is something of a kitchen sink strategy. I use cutter advanced as a DEET substitute to mask my smell. Permethrin on the clothing and gear the kill the ones that land, and citronella candels and or the Off away device that came out last year to actually repel them away from the area.
If the area permits a smudge fire helps a lot as well but its none too comfortable in warm weather.

[bwg]

There's still trees in the OBX lol... you'll be fine.

There are even some campgrounds too.

That seems to be a rather cavalier attitude. Yes, there are trees on the Outer Banks, and some spots have thick forests. However, along many miles of the Outer Banks finding adequate spots for hammocks may require a bit of planning.

If one plans to stealth camp or hang a hammock at the next campground whenever tiredness sets, then one may find trees are rather sparse on much of the Outer Banks, and this includes a number of the campgrounds that are nothing more than a patch of grass.

For example, some images from my bike tour:

[bwg]

I haven't had need of an underquilt yet as all of my trips have been in warm, summer, weather. I did just grab an REI space-blanket/tarp to sling underneath in cooler temperatures. Perhaps it, with a foam pad, will protect me from attack from below. I read your CGoaB trip report (assuming that was you, the details seem to match), and the mosquito situation looked pretty awful. I wonder how the situation varies as the season progresses. It will be late August for me, and I've never noticed a bug problem where I've stayed in the past at that time of year, but it's up toward the northern end of the NC banks and close enough to the beach to get the wind off the ocean.

Yes, that was me on Crazy Guy. I've had a steep learning curve about bicycle touring, and that trip taught me the benefits of Gatorade. Previously I was a skeptic about Gatorade and drank only water. I was amazed how quickly Gatorade restored lost sodium and potassium when I became defeated on my ride.

The monthly temperature range is very deceptive on the Outer Banks. For example, in July the mean high is only 85 and mean low is 74. In August it is 84 and 73. Source:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/healt...graph/USNC0503

These temperatures would seem to suggest a comfortable vacation area. However, sun reflection off the Atlantic and Pamilco Sound, and off the beach sand, create additional heat gain, and since the banks are surrounded by water which does not cool much, the evenings tend to stay warm and humid. In short, this place is hot and stays warm/humid overnight.

Given the heat and humidity, sleeping without air conditioning will potentially be a miserable experience. This is especially true if you stick a pad or space blanket or under-quilt under your hammock. If I used a hammock on the Outer Banks in August, I would have no insulation under me because I would like to have a cooling breeze evaporate the sweat off my back via the hammock fabric. Given this, a double layered hammock may be your best bet to allow for coolness and mosquito protection.

[Rob3E]

I agree that a double layer hammock would be ideal. Not just for mosquitoes, but for my camping needs, a full under quilt system isn't generally needed, so a simple double-layer hammock with a place to slide a pad might get me through the coldest temperature I'm likely to face. But a hammock upgrade isn't really in the cards for this trip. I have a list of gear that I'm trying to acquire in preparation, and I'll be lucky to get my hands on all of it before I leave, let alone a whole, new hammock. But it's definitely in my long term plan, and nothing will bump it up the priority list more quickly then being drained of blood through the bottom of my hammock.

[Atreus]

I have friends who live in Buxton and I travel there every year. I would not consider this a hammock friendly area. Ockrk island does have plenty of trees but not so much in the parks.

[dippyhippie]

The campgrounds at Frisco NP forbid using the trees to hang and they are very picky about it. I've camped (on the ground) there every summer for several years and the mosquitoes can get pretty bad when the wind dies down. I usually wear lite long jogging pants and a Capilene long sleeve shirt instead of using DEET.

[Rob3E]

My trip is coming up, so I'm bumping this thread.
So far the only campground mentioned as having suitable trees is Frisco, which is also mentioned as being anti-hammock. Perhaps just waiting until after dark to set up will solve me problem...
Right now Frisco is my early bail out site. Assuming I can catch the 1-3:30 ferry to Ocracoke, I should be able to make Frisco by 6pm, which may be sooner then I want to end my day given that I should still be relatively fresh from a 2+ hour ferry ride. I may want to push on to Avon or Salvo/Rodanth area. I have some sites marked in both places, but don't know how "hammockable" they are. And some are definitely RV parks with rates closer to hotel rates then campsites (with that in mind, I also mapped out a few motels).

I also have my pie-in-the-sky scenario in which I get to Ocracoke earlier and make it as far as Oregon Inlet, leaving me with a very leisurely final day.

It's very nebulous, depending on how far I can ride and where I can find two trees close enough together.

[Bigdumbman]

I just got back from the OBX area yesterday from a little vacation and had no problem finding hanging spots throughout Duck all the way down to Kill Devil Hills, the mosquitoes and large black flies are pretty nasty. I spent a lot of time in the hammock with the bug net and a good book on the kindle. I didn't bother with any of the state parks you can usually walk a little into the denser foliage areas and stealth camp pretty easily, it is too hot for people to be slogging through the vegetation this time of year.

[thecrumb]

Great info - I did a motorcycle ride down the OB this spring - I brought my hammock but ended up grabbing a hotel instead.

I'd definitely call to check and verify daily ferry schedules. We were going by what the site listed and ran into a few delays which forced us to turn around and backtrack.

May do it again this fall - please post a follow up trip report!

Jim