Shackleford Banks: Wild Horses and Shelling in the Outer Banks

Shackleford Banks is a wild, undeveloped barrier island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks where you can see free-roaming wild horses and spend the day collecting shells on quiet Atlantic beaches, reachable only by a short ferry ride from Beaufort or Harker’s Island. If you are looking for wild horses in the Outer Banks and also want to spend the day at the beach collecting shells, look no further than Shackleford Banks!  It is less crowded than some of the other parts of the Outer Banks, less developed, and less commercial.

You can get to Shackleford Banks by ferry from 2 locations: Beaufort or Harker’s Island.  After our first lovely weekend in Beaufort (North Carolina) and our encounters with feral horses on Carrot Island and the wild horses on the west end of Shackleford Banks, we headed to Harker’s Island to catch the ferry to the east end of Shackleford Banks.

How to Get to Shackleford Banks

Most visitors reach Shackleford Banks by passenger ferry, since there are no roads or bridges to the island. Island Express Ferry Service runs daily, year-round trips from both Beaufort and Harker’s Island, with the crossing taking about 25 minutes each way and a current round-trip fare of $24 per adult and $17 per child (ages 3 to 11). Both departure points land you on the island, just on different ends (more on that below), so pick whichever town is closer to where you’re staying.

If you’d rather not manage the ferry schedule and logistics yourself, Shackleford Wild Horse and Shelling Safari runs a guided three-hour tour from Beaufort that includes the ferry ride out, wild horse viewing, and time on the shelling beaches, with a guide pointing out where the herds have been recently. It’s a nice option if you’re traveling with kids or want someone else to handle the details.

If you have your own kayak, you can paddle over, though you will want to know how to read a tide chart before you try it, and you cannot bring a kayak back on the ferry, so you will need to paddle both ways. Private boaters have one small dock on the west side of the island near Beaufort Inlet for loading and unloading, though boats cannot stay tied there; shallow-draft vessels can anchor along the island from Whale Creek to Wades Shore for up to 14 days within the national seashore’s waters.

Best Time to Visit Shackleford Banks

There is no bad time to visit Shackleford Banks, since the horses are out on the beach and in the maritime forest year-round, but a few things are worth planning around. Late spring (May) and early to mid fall (September and October) tend to bring the mildest weather and the lightest crowds, which lines up with what I’ve seen on my own visits. Summer brings more heat, more biting insects in the marshy interior, and the start of Atlantic hurricane season, which can affect ferry schedules with little notice.

For time of day, aim for early morning or the couple of hours before sunset. The light is best for photos, the horses tend to be more active, and you will have more of the beach to yourself before the day’s crowd of ferry arrivals builds up. That was exactly our experience catching the first ferry at 8:15 in the morning: we had long stretches of beach and marsh with hardly another visitor in sight.

Harkers Island is in a region known as Down East and is a 3-hour drive from Raleigh. Its main tourist attractions are Cape Lookout Lighthouse, Cape Lookout National Seashore, and Shackleford Banks. Shackleford Banks is the southernmost barrier island in Cape Lookout National Seashore.

From Harker’s Island, you can take a ferry to either location. There is one ferry service, Island Express Ferry Service; it is the same company we used to take the ferry from Beaufort, and they are fantastic. They are the only concessioner authorized by NPS, but don’t let that go to their head. They are super professional, with a great crew and modern boats. 

We purchased tickets ($24 per person/$17 for children 3-11) for the very first ferry at 8:15 am. The same ferry goes from Harker’s Island to Shackleford Banks and then on to Cape Lookout (no price difference), and you can visit Shackleford Banks first to see the horses, then head to Cape Lookout. (Return ferries from Shackleford Banks are on the hour and half hour.) There were 40 people on the ferry, most of whom went directly to Cape Lookout. Only 6 of us got off at Shackleford Banks.

After being dropped off, we headed for the interior. About a mile in, we saw a group of 6 horses. We were downwind, so we were able to approach the herd easily, and with a telephoto lens, Mr. Misadventures got great shots.

As we got closer 1 horse watched us as we cautiously approached.

Seeing that we were no threat and that we were keeping our distance, they continued grazing on the marsh grasses. After 30 minutes of watching, we began walking towards a ridge where we spotted another group. We hoped to see a new foal that had recently been born in early spring.

This was a small group of 3. We spent a little bit of time with them and moved on. All morning, we had the beautiful Cape Lookout lighthouse on the horizon as our constant companion.

Continuing on our way, we came upon a group of 5 with one resting on the ground. She wasn’t pregnant but had a yearling from last year(?) with her. They were resting, so we moved along and came up to another 2 horses. They didn’t like our presence, so we didn’t disturb them further.

After a couple of hours with the horses, we went to the beach to look for some shells. We got a little shell fever last time, and Mr. Misadventures had a picture in his mind that he wanted to take with a shell. Do you think Mr. Misadventures lay down on the wet beach to get this photo? If you guess yes, you’d be right!

The real prize is sand dollars, but we didn’t see any. We walked the beach for an hour, then turned around, headed back toward the lighthouse, and had lunch on a washed-up piece of wood, enjoying the quiet. There was absolutely no one!

Afterward, we headed back into the inner island to look for horses as we made our way to the ferry pick-up point.

As soon as we moved inside, we came upon 4 horses grazing. At this end (east) of Shackleford Banks, there are close to 100 horses (140 total on the entire island). They are said to be descendants of Spanish shipwrecks and have lived on the island for many generations. They have survived storms and hurricanes.

They eat the island’s native grasses and have freshwater sources in the interior. Their biggest threat is humans. The biggest danger comes from humans not following guidelines and attempting to feed them.

Remember to keep 50 feet/25 meters (the length of a school bus) between you and the horses, don’t block their path, and back away slowly if they seem bothered by your presence. Also, please put your camera on silent mode (test this before you arrive) and don’t use flash.

As we returned, we passed all the groups of horses that we had seen in the morning and decided that for the last hour of our walk/hike we would go back along the beach. As we came up over the dunes, we spotted a group of 6 horses grazing very close to where the edge of the dune and the beach meet, with the iconic Cape Lookout Lighthouse in the background. We could not have asked for a better shot with models for Instagram!

We kept walking back closer and closer to our landing point, directly across the water from the Cape Lookout Lighthouse.  We spotted five more horses. One older one was very grumpy. He kept getting annoyed with some of the other horses and running after them.

Mr. Misadventures had turned his back to walk towards me and just missed catching one of these temper tantrums with his camera! It was funny because he was much smaller than the others but kept running after them and biting their backside. The younger ones tried to kick them off. He had so much hair over his eyes that I’m not sure if he could really see what he was going for anyway!

The return ferry was right on time, and as we left, the group that had just been dropped off got a front-row seat to the 6 horses at the beach. It was definitely their lucky day! They didn’t have to do the 5 miles of hiking that we did to see the horses.

They literally walked off the ferry onto the beach and saw 6 horses straight away. It was as if they were ambassadors greeting the new visitors to the island. I’m pretty sure those visitors were extra lucky that day, and this isn’t an everyday occurrence.

Tips for Visiting Shackleford Banks

Word of caution: it ALWAYS seems windy, so head protection, wind-blocking clothing, and sunscreen are important! We saw lots of under-dressed folks who looked pretty miserable. You might get windburn and end the day with chapped lips.

If you are staying on the beach, shoes are less important, but if you are walking in the interior of the island, you will at minimum need hiking shoes; at best, tall boots or Bogs, which is what we wore (also happened to be great for walking at the water’s edge while looking for shells). 

The interior is marshy and muddy (at least in the spring and winter). Even if you can avoid the mud, lots of plants prick and sting, including cacti, sand spurs, and nettles. Plus, you’ll want something hardy if you step in a pile. There are horse droppings on all the trails. Hard to avoid! If you are going to do a lot of hiking (like we did), I also recommend compression socks under those boots!

If you choose to wear tennis shoes they may get wet when getting off the boat and getting on the beach depending on when the tide is You can buy water boots at the gas stations surrounding Harkers Island. I saw several ladies with them, and they are cute. Don’t think they will last a lifetime, but they’ll get you through the mud and sand on the outer edges of the island.

Shackleford Banks is part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore, so all the usual National Park Service rules apply. There are no lifeguards on the beaches, and the tides are strong. Stay close to shore. (Also, sorry to be a downer, this area is also known for sharks.) 

Lastly, there are no trash cans or trash service, so you must pack out what you bring in. I bring an extra bag for picking up trash as I walk through the island. 

East End vs. West End of Shackleford Banks

If seeing wild horses is your main goal, I personally think you have more opportunity on the east end, as there is a larger population of horses. There are fewer than 20 on the west end, although I have seen horses both times I visited the west end. There are over 100 (although we saw around 20 total) on the east end. Both ends/sides of the island have beautiful beaches. The Atlantic-facing beaches have the best shells, and both ends/sides have them.

On the west end (which you access by ferry from Beaufort), the bayside beach is nice. However, on the west end, if you want to access the Atlantic-facing beaches, you will need to cross a marshy field. There is a trail, but that trail has droppings and prickly plants that require heartier shoes, so if spending the day on the beach is your goal and you don’t want to wear boots or hiking shoes, the east end (which you get to via ferry from Harker’s Island) has the access you want.

Whether you take the ferry from Harker’s Island to the east end of Shackleford Banks or from Beaufort to the west end of Shackleford Banks, the ferry ride is about 25 minutes and costs $24 per adult ($17 per child). Beaufort is a 30-minute drive from Harkers Island. Originally, we planned to go to Harkers Island on a Thursday morning, which meant leaving the house at 4 am to catch the 8:15 am ferry.

Unfortunately, the weather made it impossible for the ferry to operate; it was canceled, and we pushed our trip one day. So Friday morning, after spending a wonderful evening at the Inn on Turner in Beaufort, we got up early and drove to Harkers Island to catch the ferry. 

Accessing Cape Lookout Lighthouse and National Seashore

There are 3 ways to get to keep Cape Lookout Lighthouse. You can take the ferry from Beaufort (via Island Express Ferry Service for $60 per adult/$35 per child, now run as a five-hour narrated trip). You can take the ferry from Harker’s Island (via Island Express Ferry Service for $24 per adult/$17 per child). Or you can take the car ferry from Davis to Cape Lookout (via Davis Shore Ferry Service for $85 for a vehicle under 20 feet).

The car ferry only takes 4 cars at a time and departs every 2 hours between 7 am and 3 pm. You MUST have a 4×4. Once you are there, you can primitive camp (or rent a cabin), climb the lighthouse at Cape Lookout Light Station, or hang out on the beach and return on a ferry that departs every 2 hours between 8 am and 4 pm.

Here is more info on our Cape Lookout camping adventure!

FAQ about Shackleford Banks

If you have any chance of getting seasick while taking a boat, water bus, or ferry, I HIGHLY recommend PSI bands. I have used them for more than a decade, and they work! I gift them to friends all the time and keep a spare set in my glove compartment for visitors who may also get car sick.

At the end of the day, Shackleford Banks is proof that some of the best parts of the Outer Banks still take a little effort to reach, and that effort is exactly what keeps the horses, the shells, and the quiet all to yourself. It is one of my favorite day trips on the whole North Carolina coast, and I hope this guide gets you out there.

How about you? Have you seen wild horses in the Outer Banks? Have you visited Shackleford Banks in North Carolina? Have more tips to add? Do share! 

For a visual summary of this post, check out my Shackleford Banks web story!

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