Biking the Beach

If you're a beach lover, you're certainly in the right place if you're along the Grand Strand or Brunswick County! It's not just about laying out in the sun and sand soaking up suds! You can actually enjoy the beach, the scenery and get a bit of exercise to boot! All beaches are not built the same though! One of our favorite pastimes is hopping on our cruisers and wandering along the shore. We've biked every beach from Huntington Beach State Park up to Oak Island but today is to tell you about our favorite: Sunset Beach, NC.

Let's talk a little about why we think it's the best! There are a mulitude of reasons so here we go:

• Sunset Beach is a relatively quiet beach. Yes, it gets crazy busy in the summer but it's tolerable.
• While there isn't a ton of parking, what's there is FREE, all year long (at least for now anyway!)
• Since it's not overly crowded, you can combine biking the island itself and the beach.
• As for the island/shoreline itself, it is by far the best beach to bike. At low tide it is the widest beachfront of all of the area beaches and the sand is virtually rock free and quite hard sand making for a very pleasant ride.
• The island is just a bit over 4 miles wide so it's a very easy ride to navigate from end to end and back.
• For approximately 2 miles along the western end of the island, there are NO structures at all....just the pristine beauty of Bird Island where you'll be able to visit the famous Kindred Spirit Mailbox and bike to the far west end to watch all the boats navigate the Little River Inlet out to the Atlantic. You can also stop adjacent to the mailbox to hike the Bird Island Nature Trail which leads you across the interior of the maritime forest on the island and back again to the shore. 
• Sunset Beach is one of the only beaches all along the coastline that allows bicycles year round!
• Don't own a beach cruiser? There are a couple of rental agents nearby.

If you'd like a glimpse as to what a typical ride might be, take a look at the route of a recent ride of ours just below.

Want a glimpse of some of the sights and views along the way? Check out the slide show below with some shots from our ride. Many more to see by visiting our Sunset Beach Gallery.

Any questions, comments, etc, please feel free to contact me or comment below. Thanks! -- Gerry