It's more than just a Kindred Spirit mailbox. This almost 1200 acre reserve became publicly owned in 2002 after a intriguing ownership by the Price family of Greensboro. Almost exclusively visited by a beach walk from Sunset Beach NC, we wanted a different approach, via water. Paddling in from the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) was the plan. Using a navigation app, we crossed the ICW at Bonaparte Landing. Crossing the ICW was a little tricky on this Sunday. Boats travelling the ICW don't slow down and can create some swells you need to be prepared for.
Once across the ICW and safely in Bonaparte Creek, there were only a few small motorboats. We paddled to the remnants of this pier once used by the Price family. Nearby, we were able to beach the kayaks on a sandy strip. We made our way by foot to the nature loop trail. At high tide, we might not have been able to do that. It was nice to stand on firm ground for a while. We saw some sea ox eyes while walking around.
Cordgrass dominates the salt marshes. Besides the salt marshes, there are 5 other habitats in the reserve- beach, sand dunes, maritime grasslands, maritime shrub tickets and mud flats.
Oysters line the banks. They would be underwater at high tide.
After our water tour of Bird Island, we paddled back across the ICW to a spot where we thought we could access an old road on a spit of undeveloped land. It looked to be about 200 acres bordering the ICW and a tidal creek. We located a spot to land the boats. Then we made our way through a thick forest until we stumbled upon this paved road. It was narrow and being overtaken by vegetation.
Then we came upon this bathroom in the middle of the woods. We wandered around following paved and unpaved roads. We were right at the NC/SC border. After a short exploration we returned to the boats. I later learned this was a golf course built in 1989 and probably abandoned around 2008 when may courses went out of business here.
The rental home we stayed in, overlooked Bird Island just at the other side of the creek. Sunsets were spectacular and provided a great backdrop for happy hour.
Remnants of the Prices' bridge from Sunset Beach to Bird Island can be seen in the far right of this photo. You might need to enlarge to see the posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment