Virgina Dare Trail parking to Coquina Beach, Mountains to Sea Trail, Segment 18, mile 70.9 to 81.2

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
12/18/2021	10.7 miles	5 hours 22 minutes	0'	2.5 mph	556.1

Parking: Conch Street, Coquina Beach

Maps:

• Google Maps and Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• From Conch Street parking area, walk to beach. Hike south to Coquina Beach.

 

I took the week off and we drove to Kitty Hawk, in the Outer Banks yesterday. We decided to do some "hiking" of the Mountains to Sea Trail at its eastern end. There really is no hiking involved. Section 18 is purely beach walking, plus a couple of ferry rides. In the morning, we had a very, very foggy drive. The MST actually starts at Jockey Ridge State Park, but we decided to start outside the park, as we didn't know how long our walk would take us, and the park does lock their gates. So, we started our walk at the Conch Street parking lot. The MST guide doesn't list all possible parking areas, but using Google Maps, we were able to find this one. 

We walked on the beach close to the ocean, so we'd have more solid sand. Walking on loose sand is too tiring. Krummholz was afraid of the waves (not a bad thing), and mostly afraid of getting his feet wet. We hope to bring him to the sound side, where the water is calmer. That way, maybe he'll get some swimming in. He did discover he likes to dig in the sand.