After leaving Ocracoke, NC 12 enters the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. After arriving at Ocracoke, the road immediately runs along the western side of Silver Lake in the eastern side of the town. Once the road enters Cedar Island it turns northwest running along the Cedar Bay all the way to the Cedar Island-Ocracoke ferry. From there NC 12 travels Northeast along Cedar Island Road to Cedar Island. North Carolina Highway 12 begins at US 70 at the unincorporated community of Sea Level. NC 12 crossing a temporary bridge that was built after Hurricane Irene In 1976 NC 12 was extended to US 70 on the mainland and in 1987 was extended north to Corolla. The current NC 12 first appeared on the 1964 state highway map running from US 158 in Nags Head to Ocracoke. Route 258 (US 258) and NC 58 and ceased to exist in 1958. The first NC 12 appeared on the 1924 North Carolina Official Map and at its greatest length ran from NC 30 in Pollocksville to NC 48 near Murfreesboro. NC 12 is part of the Outer Banks Scenic Byway, a National Scenic Byway. Most sections of NC 12 are two lanes wide, and there are also two North Carolina Ferry System routes which maintain continuity of the route as it traverses the Outer Banks region. state of North Carolina, linking the peninsulas and islands of the northern Outer Banks. North Carolina Highway 12 ( NC 12) is a 148.0-mile-long (238.2 km) primary state highway in the U.S. Solitary nesters, including the American oystercatcher and the piping plover, are territorial over their nesting grounds and require sufficient space to breed successfully.Route of NC 12 highlighted in red approximate ferry routes in blue Colonial nesting birds, like the least tern, common tern, gull-billed tern, and black skimmer, find safety from predators in numbers. Beach-nesting birds fall into one of two categories: colonial nesters or solitary nesters. Cape Hatteras National Seashore provides important habitat and protection for these threatened and endangered species.Ĭape Hatteras National Seashore is also a critical habitat for a variety of different types of beach-nesting birds, especially in the summer months. Adult sea turtles are threatened by the loss of habitat, being hit by boats, entanglement in fishing gear, and pollution. While incubating and when freshly hatched, baby sea turtles are highly vulnerable. Being the northern end of the North-Atlantic subpopulation (which runs from the Florida/Georgia border to Virginia), the Outer Banks produces a large portion of the male turtles. Cool sand leads to male turtles, and warmer sand leads to female turtles. Each nest generally holds 100 eggs, and the gender of the baby turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand. Generally, loggerhead turtles lay their eggs at night between May and September. The waters and beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore also provides important habitat for several different types of sea turtles: the leatherback, hawksbill, Kemp's Ridley, loggerhead and green.įemale loggerhead, regularly nest on the beaches of the Outer Banks more occasionally, green, leatherback and Kemp’s Ridley turtles will also lay their eggs on the beaches. Offshore, dolphins and whales may be seen. When ocean temperatures are low, you many come across seals resting on the shore during their travels up the coast.
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