South Core Banks - Back Road

Back road was open and pretty busy for the Memorial Day weekend. Some ramps toward North of the island are closed off due to bird nesting and hatchlings. But majority is fine for beach driving.

I went here during Memorial Day weekend, which is considered one of the busier times. Traffic wasn’t bad at all especially if you drive on the beach and avoid the narrow center road. Driving around the older buildings near the Lighthouse had some deep puddles since it recently rained there. These puddles could cause trouble for low ground clearance vehicles. The beaches had some areas with very loose sand but I had no trouble driving in 4wd Hi at 17psi. The most difficult thing was scheduling the ferry in Davis. Be sure to book it few weeks before you go. The Ferries hold about 6 vehicles. The island is very beautiful and worth the trip. Be sure to bring bug spray for the green bitting flies.

Dusty and very soft. Single lane with both direction of travel on trail. These are rear access that run full length of island with exits to beach. Aired down 35x13.5x20 to 18 psi with no troubles.

Trail is in good condition. There are areas of soft wind blown sand which is quite deep but manageable with air down and some throttle. Ramps to the beach varied, some easy and other with very fine wind blown sand at the beach ends making pass through harder. Keep it moving and you will be ok.

Bronco on 35s aired down to 23, Subaru Outback aired down to 20. Neither had any issues. We did probably 8-9 beach ramps. Kept the bronco in 4-hi most of the time. Outback was AWD. Some puddles in the path near the historic section. You can get around most of them but some were 10-12 inches deep.

Normal sandy conditions. Used pullouts once each direction for other vehicles. Easy ride. Maintained 20-25 MPH in 4-Lo going from Davis Ferry down to stone jetty and then back north.