A family of Banker horses stands on a grassy dune at North Carolina’s Shackleford Banks, the southernmost barrier island in Cape Lookout National Seashore. The wild herd is the coastal destination’s most popular attraction. How the horses arrived is a mystery, but a popular theory is they swam ashore from a colonial Spanish shipwreck at least four centuries ago. During my camping trip to Shackleford Banks, all the horses I saw were along the dunes, where they feed on grass and sea oats. Click the above image to enlarge, click to view my high-resolution photo gallery, or click to browse my travel guides for the Outer Banks of North Carolina.