The beach!
The beach!
The bad thing about a beach walk is that you generally run into an inlet at some point, and have to turn around.
The good thing about a beach walk is that you generally run into an inlet at some point, and get to turn around.
So it was here, as The Greatest Day Hiker and I set out toward the pier – three-quarters of a mile away – and then just kept on going, in vague echo of a walk years ago where we got out of the car to stretch our legs in the Rockies, only to have The Day Hiker take us all the way to the top of Mt. Evans, I think it was.
Here, the terrain is much more forgiving, though the temperature is not.
Beyond the pier, you enter Freeman Park, which is pretty much a drive-in park, with the sand lined with four-wheel vehicles with their backs to the sea, the family awning/tent/other cover attached and the fishing poles stuck in the sand.
The inlet is a relatively narrow one, and there was talk in the newspaper during our visit about how to split the costs of the needed dredging to keep it open.
We repeated this trek on bicycles the next day, checking the mileage on Gail's odometer and affirming that her guess of about 2.5 miles each way was pretty much dead on.
Along the Atlantic coast from 1102 Carolina Beach Ave. North to the inlet above Freeman Park and back. 4.8 miles.
How to get there: Go to Carolina Beach!