Phillips Island

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Beaufort - Phillips Island Trip

Put In - In Beaufort on Front Street right across from the BB&T Bank. The second put-in was at the Wildlife access boat ramp further down Front Street, close to the entrance of Taylor Creek from the north.
Distance/Time - Three trips one to Phillips Island(5.7 miles/4 hours) and then a evening paddle on Taylor Creek down to the Rachel Carson access boardwalk(4 miles/2 hours). The third trip the following morning was from the Wildlife access out Taylor Creek towards Turner Creek(3.8 miles/1 1/2 hours).
Difficulty - Again above average as the tides, wind, and currents in the channels are something to contend with while paddling that you do not have to on flat water. I actually wanted to paddle the third trip from Hawkers Island(Shell Point) to Browns Island but the wind was so strong that it would have been a real struggle to enjoy and having the dog makes it more of a chance of something going wrong. I was able to visit the Cape Lookout National Seashore Visitor Center. The ranger gave me the last Paddle Trails map that they had, as it has gone out of print. The map was printed by the Crystal Coast Canoe & Kayak Club, which now seems to not exist as their webpage listed on the map does not exist. Here are the two images take by my camera of the map front and back. Paddle Trails Carteret County Map and Paddle Trails Carteret County Descriptions
Trip Directions - The first trip was to visit Phillips Island, on a previous trip with my neighbor when we paddle around Radio Island, I saw a large brick structure off in the distance and decided to visit this on my next trip to Beaufort. It is a nice paddle out on Galants Channel from Taylor Creek. I did have to content with a tricky set of currents in the crossing of the channel. The brick structure is an old Menhaden fish processing plant. Here is an image capture of how Menhaden are processed. On the way back I saw a second set of brick structures and was able to take a hike through this plant, it was more modern and had two of the brick structures. I found reference to five Menhaden processing plants in the area. The second trip was an evening paddle down Taylor Creek to the Rachel Carson boardwalk. The next day I ended up having to paddle from the end of Taylor Creek towards Turner Creek. This was because of the high wind, it ended up I never made Turner Creek as thie final segment was in open sound water and the wind was to great chance. It only took me five minutes to paddle back to Taylor Creek, when it took over 30 minutes to make out.
Scenery - All kinds of scenery from natural to man made large industrial settings. Also visited Hawkers Island twice, it is an easy drive 70 East from Beaufort following the signs. Had a fine lunch at the Beaufort Grocery again. I saw two dolphins while paddling and lots of birds. No horses this trip on Carrot Island did I run into to. I did stay at the Country Home Bed and Breakfast, which accepted dogs. The couple running the place have three, so they are very acceptive of having a pet(dog treats and feeding/water bowl are provided). This made the trip very nice as I did not have to deal with camping as there really are no camping areas near Beaufort. The B&B is about 3 minutes from Front Street.
Hazards - Sound currents and wind.