Kayak Paddling Trips in North Carolina
North Carolina is a great place for kayaking. All the regions of the state have wonderful places to spend a bit of time paddling. There are opportunities for whitewater kayaking (not covered here but you can find information at Whitewater in NC. Our interest is quiet water kayaking. And we're lucky that there are many places in the state for that.
There are several good books listing some of the better places to paddle in Easter North Carolina. These include:
- Guide to Sea Kayaking in North Carolina by Pam Malec. Book is sub-titled Best Day Trips and Tours from Currituck to Cape Fear. It provides 35 trips along the coast of North Carolina. Suggestions for where to day and eat are also provided. The trips are clearly described and are certainly well worth doing.
- Sea Kayaking the Carolinas by Jim Bannon. This is another great book that covers trips in the costal areas of both North and South Carolina. It provides a range of trips from short day trips to longer weekender trips. The book covers inland trips, for example Merchant's Mill Pond in NC, as well as trips along the coast. There is little overlap between this and the book above.
- A Paddler's Guide to Eastern North Carolina by Bob Benner and Tom McCloud. This guide is devoted to trips on rivers and streams in the various river basins in North Carolina. Put in and take outs are suggested. The book provides short description of the sections of the rivers and streams that are suitable for kayaks and canoes.
I haven't found similar coverage for paddling in the rest of the state.
Some of the places we've found are discussed below. We plan to add to the list as time goes on.
Paddling Eastern NC
- Beaufort, NC 2009 Our 2009 paddle on Talyor Creek in Beaufort, NC. This is pretty much an annual event for us.
- Hammock Beach State Park (Bear Island). Hammock beach State Park is a great paddle. There are two paddle trails starting at the visitor's center-- one to Bear Island and one to Huggins Island. We took took the trail to Bear Island.
- Core Banks, NC. We drove up US 70 to put in on Core Sound this year. This was a new location for us. We had to cut the paddle short because a rain storm with a bit of lightening came up. We saw a flock of Canada Geese. We'll probably go back to this area in the future.
- Beaufort NC 2008 We paddle Taylor Creek in Beaufort, NC almost every summer when we go to the beach. This is a good paddle because the creek is usually protected from the wind, there are lots of birds to see, and of course there are the wild horses on Carott Island.
- Merchant's Millpond, NC 2003 Merchant's Millpond State Park is a great place to paddle. It is a serene beautiful place to paddle. Everone should paddle it at least once.
- Goose Creek State Park, NC Paddling Goose Creek State Park in 2007 was part of our 2007 trip to see the Tundra Swans at Lake Mattamuskeet.
Paddling Western North Carolina
- Julian Price Lake In July of 2009 we had a nice paddle on Julian Price Lake--a small lake off the Blueridge Parkway.
- Bear Creek Lake, NC 2002 Bear Creek Lake is one of our favorite paddling spots in Western North Carolina.
Links for North Carolina Kayaking Information
Here are a few links for information on kayaking in North Carolina.
- NC Professional Paddlesports Association Provides links to many outfitters in North Carolina. Easy to find outfitter by location and type of activity.
- Paddle CreekNice people to deal with. We got our newest kayak from them.
- NC Paddle TrailsPaddle Trails in the Coastal Plain
- NC Paddle Trails AssociationAssociation to help develop and maintain paddle trails.
- Pirate Queen PaddlingTheir Atlantic Beach store was very helpful when we had a problem with Nessie a few years ago. Nice people to deal with.