60 & 61: Pursuing Green Spots

Portsmouth Island, North Carolina

O B X,   N C

In typical map symbolizations, areas shaded green represent protected open spaces such as national, state, or city parks, wildlife refuges, privately preserved lands, or hunting grounds.  They also represent the spots I most often venture toward while travelling. 

In the early half of this decade, while vacationing along the northern outer banks of North Carolina, a few of those enticing green spots were calling.  One was the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge – a massive 152,000 acre area essentially covering an entire peninsula east of Manteo and Roanoke Island.  Heading south from Corolla in a Honda Pilot, I ventured into the refuge and stumbled upon Mashoes Road – one of the more secluded and picturesque drives I’d ever experienced.  A little further on a found a simple boat launch and spent about an hour photographing the early morning stillness. 

The other was the Currituck Banks National Wildlife Refuge which encompasses the land north of Corolla all the way to the Virginia state line.  Heading north from Corolla, out past the end of the pavement, I ignored my mechanic’s advice and drove that same Pilot up the beach a few miles, stopping to have a picnic dinner in the refuge.  The refuge offered miles of undeveloped and preserved beach.  On the east coast, that’s pretty unique. 

At the time, I was unaware of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) involvement in the preservation of these two important and iconic green spots on the map.  Years later, while researching other green spots for a 2019 trip to the outer banks, I discovered TNC did, in fact, play important roles in the establishment and/or expansion of both Alligator River and Currituck Banks.  I’m finding more often that if I dig deep enough, I find TNC involvement in many-a green spot.  These new finds have retroactively added two more to the list of TNC properties visited.  My quest for a hundred properties by the time I’m sixty just got a little easier. 

Both Alligator River and Currituck Banks provided then the same familiar feeling I get when visiting other TNC properties: each has a clearly-evident natural uniqueness.  I’ve never once wondered what TNC has seen in land they work to preserve.  Simply put, a TNC-dedicated property is guaranteed to be an amazing place. 

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For this 2019 trip, a location much further south down the outer banks has been chosen.  Rodanthe is the easternmost point in North Carolina (a fact that only a geography nerd like me takes note of).  This isolation also brings a more authentic natural experience as well as a better geographic awareness of the unique strip of land that is the outer banks.  Once across the Oregon Inlet bridge, away from the congestion and contrivity of Nags Head, the outer banks shows more of its true self.  Here too, the narrower road becomes a state scenic highway.  Between the few towns that exist, miles of scrubby dunes, marshes, sound shores, and open ocean beaches are on display in undisturbed existence.  It’s the part of the outer banks that represents a more balanced mix of man and nature. 

In preparation for our trip (as I do for just about any trip), I looked for TNC-dedicated properties nearby.  All I could find was the one I had already visited several years ago: Nags Head Wood Preserve.  Unfortunately, no other reasonably close TNC properties could be found.  But what was easy to find were other green spots; three in particular: Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Hatteras Seashore, and the most-enticing one… Portsmouth Island. 

Early mornings at both Pea Island and Cape Hatteras Seashore were wonderful visits full of rich sounds and brilliant sights – the most dramatic of which included spotting an endangered red wolf, invasive nutria, a pair of playful otters, and a floating red-bellied turtle.  Solitude, beauty, and wildlife sightings are much easier to find in the earliest hours.  And there are few better ways to start a day than visiting the pristine beauty found at a map’s green spots. 

Fifty miles southwest of Rodanthe is the uninhabited island of Portsmouth – the northern tip of Cape Lookout National Seashore.  Getting there is no easy feat.  From Rodanthe, it’s an hour’s drive to the end of Hatteras Island, then an hour’s ferry journey across to Ocracoke Island.  From there, a half hours’ drive leads again to the end of the island and the little village of Ocracoke.  Before the final leg of our trip, we fuel up at the Jolly Roger while a continual stream of Jimmy Buffet songs serenade our covered porch seating.  My lunch of a burger, hushpuppies and cold beer is the proper pairing for the music.  A live version of the nostalgic Coast of Marseille catches my ear and I begin humming along.  It might just be Buffet’s very best song, and for the remainder of our week-long vacation, the lyrics are rolling around in my head.   

Before lunch, I made a quick check-in to make sure our captain for the channel crossing to Portsmouth still has us on his schedule.  Captain Wade Austin, who arrives on a scooter, affirms our departure time. He’s a man of few words, but his deep tan and familiarity with all around him provide some confidence in my willingness to trust a total stranger to captain my loved ones to an uninhabited island. 

Mark Brown, our guide, has an interesting background.  He’s a Chicago-educated artist specializing in dendrology restorations. He lives on and is restoring the Nancy Ellen, a1926 wooden boat.  He spent a year in asceticism as a lay monk in Italy, and now displays his work at local galleries and teaches art when not leading tours of Portsmouth Island.  He’s wearing long pants, long shirt, hat, no shoes, and a bandana covers everything but his eyes.  He looks Bedouin; perhaps a forewarning of the bugs about to assault us. 

Our voyage across the inlet to Portsmouth in a small skiff is a loud, fast scoot across the water.  Once ashore, we splash in the shallow water as we hop off the boat, then cross a knee-high ephemeral inlet and head down a sandy path into the brush where four ATVs await. 

Greenhead horseflies abound, but once we set off the ATVs outrun the biting critters.  After a mile, we emerge out onto the open shore.  The beach is wide, pristine, and completely empty - an entire island all to ourselves.  We drive south for five miles and the beach remains wide, pristine, and completely empty – an entire island all to ourselves. 

We stop at the island’s highest dune and climb to the top where we’re greeted by more greenheads.  Mark orients us to the distant landmarks.  He points us back to Ocracoke, and to where his multi-generational ancestry lived, and in the direction of where the best NC pork barbecue exists.  Later, when shell-collecting he identifies NC’s state shell – the Scotch Bonnet, a cream and caramel swirled beauty of a shell.  I give the best one to Allison, and then pocket a perfect and color-rich Olive shell to be added to my treasure collection back at the office.  It will stand out in a box full of other treasures, not just due to its unusual shape and color but because it represent one of the most unique spots that I’ve ever visited. 

Over the four hours we spend on Portsmouth, the images, memories, and sounds captured are amazing.  My binoculars spot a plethora of remarkable sights – a regal flock of royal terns, firewheel flowers, snowy egrets, crashing waves, dragonflies, more greenheads, undulating dunes, scrubby marshlands, and no other humans other than my four very content traveling partners.  Our time spent alone on Portsmouth Island is magical, vastly exceeding our expectations in so many ways.  On the return journey home, we’re all reviewing our photos and gawking about just how epically cool our Portsmouth Island excursion was.  A truly amazing green spot. 

Maybe someday, doing deeper research I’ll find that TNC, in fact, did have involvement with Pea Island, Cape Hatteras, and Portsmouth Island.  But if not, that’s OK too.  Visits to each of this past week have all served in their own unique ways to once-again emphasize that green spots are the best spots, and that pursuing their charms is an unbeatable travel strategy.