OBX Secret Spot: Nags Head Woods Soundside Access

So we had a new photo for sale at the last market, and it got a lot of attention. Many of you wanted to know where it was taken, as the landscape here is just breathtaking. Good news! It’s a public place, with fairly easy access.

If you drive to the end of Ocean Acres Drive in Kill Devil Hills, you’ll get to the Nature Conservancy, with several trailheads. Head out on the sound side out-and-back trail, and after about a quarter to a half mile, you’ll hit this long wooden walkway that plots across the marsh above the grasses. In the center of the walkway sits two benches. They each look out over the marsh grasses for what seems like an eternity – the view is 360 degrees and just so immersive and beautiful. I could sit on these benches forever.

If you do visit, keep going after the benches. It’s just another maybe half mile til the pathway opens up again at the end, with sound side water access. You’re in the middle of the scraggly old maritime forest with knobby-kneed trees half submerged in the slow-lapping sound water. If you can time it right, catch a sunset here. (Be mindful that you will need to walk back out of the woods in the dark! It’s not for everyone, but the sunset will be a lifetime memory!)

Check out the video below for an inside peek at this heaven on earth spot.