Resolutions

This is the time when we all come up with our resolutions for the next year.  Our resolutions often include losing weight or eating healthier and stopping or altering various vices.  Personally, I am looking to share special outdoors experiences with my family.

I was amazed when talking to someone a while back from New York City about how he had never been to the Statue of Liberty.  He told me it was never a priority because he could see it across the bay and knew it would always be there.  Before he knew it, he had moved and now longed to return so he could experience some of the things he missed while living there.  That brings me to my resolutions.

North Carolina is full of one of kind experiences that many will never have the opportunity to share.  Imagine a sky of white and black flowing in a swarm feathers.  Birds so plentiful the United States military had to alter its plans of building a landing strip makes for a fascinating sight.  Several years ago my oldest son Turner and I were hunting tundra swan in the Pocosin Lakes area in Northeastern North Carolina.  Off on the distance a funnel cloud of proportions indescribable rose from one of the lakes.  The funnel cloud consisted of tens of thousands of snow geese lifting from the water.  Amazing.  This January I will be in the midst of this funnel with Turner hunting the snow geese on their final resting spot for the winter.

Of course, the outdoors does not just consist of hunting.  Also on the coast on a small island, the ponies of Shackleford Banks reside.  Small frame horses roam freely on this nine mile long island.  Their history of inhabiting the area can be traced back to the early to mid 1500’s, with ancestors coming from Christopher Columbus himself as Columbus set up horse breeding farms in the New World.  This was done in order to provide horses to future colonists when they arrived to expand the territory.  Watching the small stallions feed, gallop and play has to be well worth the trip.

Then, to add a bit of mystique to our year long adventure, I figure we will have the family drive to an overlook of Brown Mountain.  Mysterious lights adorn the side of the mountain at night and have thus far been unexplained.  The United States Geological Society once investigated the strange orbs with explanations ranging from swamp gas to reflections of a train several miles away.  I can see my daughter holding us tight as we watch the light flare and then fizzle under a star lit sky.

One of my favorite places in the state encompasses the towering Mount Mitchell.  I have been to the top many times, but rarely have taken one of the long hiking trails from the pinnacle of the Appalachians’ highest mountain.  The family would surely enjoy a steady nature walk through a brightly colored autumn landscape accompanied by a picnic lunch.  The exercise would likely be as good for the soul as it is for the body.

And lastly, a thrill I have longed for is another backyard secret.  A reasonable drive to the Cataloochee area of the Great Smokies National Park will yield an experience that both hunter and non-hunter can appreciate.  Ten years after releasing a small herd of elk, they have remained mostly in the same area.  The tall antlered cervids make a distinctive bugle during the mating season.  One vision I wish to experience and share is the lifting head of the bull elk with his long rack reaching mid-back as he bellows for a mate.

If I accomplish but one of these resolutions, I feel I still will have experienced a wonderful gift from God.  Nature, wildlife, and history all melded into something I chose not to miss right here in our backyard.

Read Bill Howard's Outdoors: Goal Setting

The Devil's Tramping Ground

There are three paranormal legends in North Carolina that have stood out in my mind since I was a child. One was the Brown's Mountain Lights.  Another was the Maco Lights.  The third, the Devil's Tramping Ground (also called the Devil's Stomping Ground).

The legend is there is a spot in the woods outside of Siler City where no vegetation has ever grown.  Even the United State Geological Service has surveyed the land and composition and cannot determine why nothing grows there.  Supposedly, the Devil makes an earthly appearance there nightly, and as he 'tramps' around, any vegetation dies.

In the late 80's, a boy scout troop was said to have camped there.  When they awoke the next morning, their tent was moved to the other side of the opening-with the scouts still in it.  Other strange occurences include items disappearing if left there overnight.

This last weekend, my family visited the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro.  This is an annual trip in which all of the cousins' families attend the zoo together.  Usually this is the last time we see each other until Christmas.  Since the spot of the Devil's Tramping Ground is not far away, I made a detour on the way home and...

We knew we were headed the right way when:

After driving a few miles on Devils Tramping Ground Road we came across this:

This is where the entrance to the path that would lead to the tramping grounds was located.  A closer look at the painting on the road:

So of course, my wife, kids and mother got out of the vehicle and proceeded to search the site where the Devil is said to romp around:

We could see something ahead in the clearing.  As we entered the site:

No vehicle was parked on the side of the road where you could enter the site other than ours.  Yet here was an empty tent.  Yes, completely empty; no sleeping bags, chairs,  NOTHING.  The fire in the circle was still smoldering and smoking.  The tent looked as though it had been exited quickly:

I do not know who was there, but we did not hang around to meet the Devil or to see if anyone came back to get their empty tent...

Happy Halloween!

PS, this is an entirely true story.   A couple of other notes about the trip to the Devil's Tramping Ground.  I set the navigation to head home when we left.  It took us in a circle of about 6 miles and brought us right back by the street sign marking the Devils Tramping Ground Rd.  Yep, that was highly unusual.  Then, while downloading the pictures from the email I sent to myself from the phone, the pictures of the path and of the actual sight did not download all the way.  Only the top portions (about 25% of the picture) would download.  After several attempts in downloading each did I finally get the full picture.  Each of the other photos downloaded on the first try.  Does this mean anything?  Probably not, but it is interesting at least.  At first we did not think much of the empty tent, except on further evaluation, notice how it looks as though it was exited very quickly.  Yes, truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.

Bill Howard writes a weekly outdoors column for the Wilson Times and Yancey County News and the bowhunting blog site GiveEmTheShaft.com. He is a Hunter Education and International Bowhunter Education instructor, lifetime member of the North Carolina Bowhunters Association, Bowhunter Certification Referral Service Chairman, member and official measurer of Pope and Young, and a regular contributor to North Carolina Bowhunter Magazine.