Run Hill Dune
I’m please to find no parking lot on 10th Avenue. I simply pull onto the sandy shoulder across from the small, faded sign for Run Hill Dune. I dip under a wooden fence rail designed to keep ATV’s out and then begin my trudge up one of the east coast’s highest dunes. I consider going barefoot, but my sandals work like snow shoes in the loose sand. Neither barefoot nor sandals though are ideal on this unstable surface, so my progress is slow. I enjoy the unhurried pace; it affords more time to absorb the beauty. About 5 miles south of Run Hill is Jockey’s Ridge - the more famous dune on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. In between is a four mile stretch of maritime forest. Run Hill is shifting southward, encroaching one grain at a time upon this forest. In this collision, there’s intrigue. I seek to find the unique when I travel, and a sand dune swallowing up a forest is something I find quite intriguing. After fifteen minutes of trudgin...