>>1116975North Carolina here. One of the greatest /out/ expiriences I've ever had was kayaking out to Cape Lookout from Beaufort and camping on the beach with my boy scout troop. No tents, just sleeping bags and sand. It was a 3-day weekend in march; the ferries had stopped running, so we had the island all to oursleves. The lighthouse is at the tip of the island which extends 20 miles to the north, is only a quarter mile wide, almost all beach. To the east is an area of shallows called Shackleford Banks (absolutely beautiful; it's so shallow that wild horses can run between the islands), also great for camping. You technically need to pay a few bucks to camp, but there's so much land you can easily get away with just renting a kayak and beaching it somewhere to sleep.
Tl;dr: The NC Outer Banks, especially around Cape Lookout, are fucking beautiful and amazing for camping on. Do it right: get kayaks, and pick a time when it's not too crowded, ideally under a new moon so you can see the milky way.
