Marshall McClung
I recently had the pleasure of talking with three young people who spend a lot of time in the woods. I was glad to know that there are kids who still do that.
They even have their mountain named; there is a story just in that.
Cousins Marley Carpenter, Bella Carpenter and Daylon Anderson spend a lot of time with their step-grandfather, Dwayne Wilkey. They are often playing on a steep mountain in the Little Snowbird area.
When Wilkey wants to check on them, he calls out “Hooty-Hoo" and they reply in kind, to let him know they are okay.
The idea came from one of the Andy Griffith episodes, in which Barney used the owl call to communicate with Andy. When he wants them to come to the house, Wilkey whistles loudly and they come home – sometimes with some of the neighborhood dogs.
The kids made their own sign for the mountain. They have cleared a hiking trail on the mountain and have a shelter of some type up there.
All is not play though, as Wilkey has taught them how to safely do several jobs around the place. They all have hatchets and use them to clear fallen tree limbs from their trail and the driveway to the Wilkey home. They split kindling wood and stack firewood. The trio helps prepare meals and tend to a flock of chickens they have. They do some farming and plan on increasing that next spring. They play their own type of survivor games in which they must solve a problem of some sort.
There are some hazards to being outdoors a lot, such as a grapevine they were swinging on that brought them high into the air. It was cut off higher than they could reach, thus eliminating one danger. Then there is the inevitable contact with stinging insects, such as hornets, yellow jackets and poisonous snakes found locally: the timber rattlesnake and copperhead.
Probably high on their list of favorite things to do is driving an all-terrain vehicle around the place under the watchful eye of “Papaw” Dwayne.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the N.C. Forest Service and can be reached via email, mcclungs828@gmail.com.