NC State Parks _ Goose Creek & Pettigrew

 Yes, I am still at it.  I have completed visiting 24 NC State Parks and took off around 9 am to add another 5 to the list.  Today I plan to visit Goose Creek, Pettigrew and Jockey's Ridge before spending the night in Manteo.  It was not supposed to be a very hot day but the humidity was up there.  My first stop would be in Washington, NC, sometimes referred to as Little Washington so people don't get confused with DC.  If you are a a local person then you stop here to eat at Bill's Hotdogs.

https://www.facebook.com/billshotdog

It seems like it's been there forever.  Around the corner is Pam's Place also a great place to grab a bite.  I spent 30 minutes eating and visiting with a gentleman that had to give up his Harley because of the weight and a torn bicep muscle.  I am feeling it on the weight side.  He said his Harley weighs 850 lbs.  The BMW R1200 gsa is around 565 lbs.  My gear probably raises the weight to around 600 lbs.  But I too, feel the weight.

Goose Creek State Park

https://www.ncparks.gov/state-parks/goose-creek-state-park

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Goose-Creek-State-Park/106082589423118

The weather was still good in the high 80's and I was off to Goose Creek State Park.

This is a fairly small park with RV parking, camping and some of the nicest cabins that I have seen in a park.  It's a well maintained park that looked to have plenty of room for RVs  in this age where many parks are booked up months in advance.

The only problem with this park is the location.  It is about 19 miles from Little Washington in the middle of a very remote area.

As I head down the road to the next park -  Pettigrew State Park I realize how remote the area is for these small parks.

Pettigrew State Park

https://www.ncparks.gov/state-parks/pettigrew-state-park

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pettigrew-State-Park/143511962328512

When I got to the next park I was so annoyed that I didn't even take the customary picture of the entrance.  I don't even remember the entrance.  This park was probably no more than 40 miles from Goose Creek but it took me close to 2 hours.  I ended up on every no name road that disappeared into nothing.  The GPS was no help.  In fact, it got me buried deeper and deeper into the back country lost with no one to ask for directions and few road signs.  One of the many wrong turns was onto Canal Road "A" the GPS said that it was a straight ride for 11 miles to the Park.  It was paved and after 1/2 mile it wasn't then another mile the hard packed trail turned to sand.  But I forged ahead for another mile and the trail had now turned into a path but the end came when I came upon shrubs growing in the middle of the path.  I could see that the path was getting so narrow that I would have trouble turning around.  I tried 2 more roads/trails/paths with the full endorsement of the Garmin GPS.  Now I just wanted out!  So I tried the city locator function on the Garmin for Manteo.  It said it was 7 hours away.  This wasn't even funny because the heat and humidity was starting to get to me.  I knew what direction I needed to go so I pulled up the compass on the Garmin and headed north/northeast until I finally hit NC 64,  I drove 12 miles toward Manteo and stopped in a little town to see if I could find the park.  BAM, it was 5 miles away so I tried one last time.  I got there but had a certain amount of attitude when I talked to the Ranger.  She was very nice and explained that if I had gone to their website it clearly says DO NOT USE A GPS TO FIND THIS PARK.  

I rode down to the adjacent plantation that you could tour but did not go to the boat ramp on the lake.  I just wanted out.  No camping but some hiking trails and I am out of here.

It was too late to get to Jockey's Ridge tonight so I would catch it the next morning.  I needed a nap.  I was running later than I wanted because of the building thunderstorms.  I was crossing the Alligator River when lightning started flying and it was apparent that I was heading into it.  I pulled over and put on the rain suit.  Just in time.  It was still obvious that the thunderstorm was right over the NC 264 bridge into Manteo with lots of lightning so in Manns Harbor and took old NC64 north 2-3 miles to the old original bridge. It was a bad idea to cross a very high bridge over water in a thunderstorm because I would be the highest point on the bridge.   I was just getting rained on here but the view of the storm over the NC264 bridge was impressive.  Six miles later I was at the Scarborough Inn for the night and I had earned a nap!  The rains continued through dinner and I was lucky that  a pretty good restaurant was across the street.  Darrell's Restaurant was just the place for fried shrimp and a short walk from the Inn.  Tomorrow will be another day!