The Outer Banks is a sandbar, and it is moving. Shifting Sands is a full-day, self-guided driving hunt south from Nags Head to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, about how much of this place the sea has already taken — and at every stop, the game hands you the before and the after.
- WhereJockey’s Ridge to Cape Hatteras
- Getting aroundAny car, no sand driving
- DistanceAbout 53 miles
- TimeA full day
$29 a team, not per person. Up to six players, on one phone or each on their own, any day within 90 days.
Get the team pass · $29Your team link arrives by email right after checkout. Renting a 4x4 from Beach4x4? Every rental includes a free hunt pass.
GPS opens each location, a photo challenge puts you where the old shoreline used to be, and the questions are answered by what is actually left in front of you. A lot of it is water.
The route
Jockey’s Ridge
You start on the tallest living sand dune system on the Atlantic coast, and it is walking southwest a few feet every year. It is the first lesson of the day and the easiest one to feel: the ground you are standing on is not staying put.
A street in South Nags Head
Then a dead-end street where the pavement simply stops at the water, and more than half of one legal lot is now ocean.
Bodie Island Lighthouse
The black-and-white banded tower at Bodie Island is the third lighthouse to stand near this spot, because the first two did not survive.
Oregon Inlet
Oregon Inlet did not exist before a single storm in September 1846, and it has walked more than two miles south since. You cross it on the Marc Basnight Bridge, the long span that replaced the old Bonner Bridge.
Pea Island and Rodanthe
South of the inlet, NC 12 runs a narrow strip between the ocean and Pamlico Sound, and for years the ocean kept taking the road. At Rodanthe the state stopped rebuilding that stretch and built a 2.4-mile bridge that swings out west over the sound instead. It opened in July 2022, and everyone calls it the Jug Handle.
Where the lighthouse used to be
The finish is the point of the whole thing. You end on a stretch of Buxton beach the locals still call Old Lighthouse Beach, where the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse stood from 1870 until 1999, by which time the sea was nearly at its base. There is nothing there now — no tower, no marker, no plaque. Then you drive to the lighthouse itself, 2,900 feet inland, where they moved it. Standing on the empty spot, and then under the tower, is the part people remember.
If you want the storms behind every one of these stops before you drive them, our Outer Banks hurricane history lines them up, 1846 to today.
What you need
- Car: any car. There is no sand driving on this one.
- Distance: about 53 miles down to the lighthouse, plus whatever the stops add, so start early.
- Fuel: fill the tank before Hatteras Island.
- Roads: NC 12 is the only way down and it closes in bad weather. Check NCDOT before you go.
- The lighthouse: under restoration and wrapped in scaffolding into 2027. The grounds are open and the drive is unaffected, but you cannot climb it. Check the National Park Service before you go.
- The drive home: the hunt finishes in Buxton, not where you started.
- Driving safety: whoever is driving never works the game while the car is moving. Hand the phone to a passenger, or pull over somewhere safe first.
How the game works
- Buy a team pass. Your team link arrives by email within a few minutes; if it hasn’t landed in 10 minutes, check spam and promotions.
- Go to the start any day within 90 days and open the link when you are ready. There is no booking, no guide and nobody to meet.
- Each stop unlocks by GPS when you get there. Then come photo challenges, questions you answer from what is actually in front of you, and points.
- If your phone won’t share its location, the game lets you place yourself on the map by hand, so nobody gets stuck.
Play Shifting Sands
A self-guided hunt of ours: $29 for the whole team, not per person, good any day for 90 days. Renting a 4x4 from Beach4x4, our rental company in Kill Devil Hills? Every rental includes a free hunt pass, and the link comes with your booking confirmation.
Get the team pass · $29Questions people ask
Do we need four-wheel drive for Shifting Sands?
No. Every stop is reached on paved road, so any car works.
Where does it start and finish?
It starts at Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head and finishes at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, about 53 miles south. The drive home is yours.
Can we climb the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse?
Not right now. It is under restoration and wrapped in scaffolding into 2027. The grounds stay open, and the hunt’s finish does not depend on climbing it.
How long does it take?
A full day. Start early; NC 12 is the only road down and the stops add time.
How many people does one pass cover?
One team of up to six players, on one phone or each on their own. Bringing two cars? Buy a pass for each team.
Checked against the sources
The erosion record — Oregon Inlet’s opening in the September 1846 storm and its movement south since (NC Division of Coastal Management), the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse’s 1999 move of 2,900 feet (National Park Service), the Rodanthe bridge’s length and opening; the restoration — scaffolding and no climbing into 2027.
Every question in the game was checked against what is actually at each stop, including what is no longer there.
Images on this page are illustrations of the kind of thing you will see, not photographs of the exact spots. The title art is the hunt’s own.
Last checked: September 2026.