Joe, Don and I began this offtrail adventure by walking across Tot Hill golf course on a private right of way. The course was heavily frosted white this morning. There was no one else about as we walked through the stunningly beautiful course. Abruptly, the pavement ended and we were in the woods. Another 15 minutes put us at a point which looked like a good spot to head off trail. Within a few minutes we had located an old road and followed it down. We entered an area that I thought had been a loading deck for a timber cut. There was a pile of stackable rocks and different vegetation in the area. A couple old signs caught me eye. Checking them out, they turn out to be old Joe Moffitt signs in sheet brass nailed to a dead tree.
BE PREPAIRED
NORTH OF CAMP IS A
SPRING THE SCOUTS
THAT REDISCOVERED AND CLEANED OUT
THIS SPRING WERE:
JOEY MOFFITT
WALTER JONES JR
J SCOTT CAGLE
TERRY DAVIDSON
EDDIE ROBBINS
SONNY HAYES
RANDY MANESS
SCOTT HOWARD
TONY HOLT
SCOUT LEADERS WERE
? OBRIEN
SM JOE MOFFITT
ASSISTANT DALE HOWARD
SCOUT TROOP 570
SPONSORED BY LEGON POST ? ASHEBORO
DO A GOOD TURN DAILY
The other sign read:
UWHARRIE TRAIL (in large black letters)
CAMP (blank) NO (blank)
BUILT BY SCOUT TROOP NO (blank)
LAYOUT OF CAMP BY JOSEPH MOFFITT JR
STAR SCOUTER (blank) AGE (blank) YEARS (blank) NOV (blank)
IN COOPERATION WITH UWHARRIE NATIONAL FOREST
RANGER BOB CAREY AND LEGON POST NO (blank)
THIS CAMP IS LOCATED ON THE OLD TADLOCK
HOMESTED MR AND MRS TADLOCK ARE BURIED ABOUT
ONE HUNDRED YARDS WEST
Looking nearby, we located the spring house for the home and the family cemetery. I had been here once before from a different direction. The headstone is for both Father and Mother Tadlock. There are two foot stones with initials. The property the cemetery is on is listed as Lillie Voncannon on GIS. I spotted two NFS benchmarks which indicated the property was about 20 by 20. It also appears a cedar post was cut to hold a sign nearby. We scraped around in the leaves thinking we might locate another metal sign, but did not find any.
Is being prepaired like an arranged marriage?
We then walked by an inholding with a lovely field. There were a couple monstrous deer stands here as well. From here we made our way along an old road and ended up at Camp 1 or 1B depending on what reference you are using.
The old sign for this camp has been partially swallowed by this tree. It is a very nice spot but doesn't receive much traffic.
Nearby is the spring, complete with crayfish scurrying about. There was a screen we pulled back to expose the spring. A very short distance from here is the Birkhead Mountain Trail. We made our way to it and followed an old road toward toward Camp 3. When the old road led into the actual trail, we were at another homesite. We poked around here for about 15 minutes looking for a spring. I had thought I had found it on an earlier outing but now I'm not so certain.
From here, we headed up the ridge which would take us back along Talbot Creek. This ridge is loaded with prehistoric quarry debris. We found numerous worked pieces. We found a nice arrowhead with the point chipped off. Don commented that the Native American words for "oh crap" probably were spoken often here.
After a pleasant ridgeline walk, we located the old mine described as a quartz mine. There was plenty of quartz here but I suspect this was a gold search, not quartz. A number of whitewall tires from the 50s have made there way out here.
Joe spotted this fellow clinging to a tree. I don't see bats during the day very often.
From here, we headed down to Talbot Creek and walked along the social trail back to the Birkhead Mountain Trail and the trailhead.
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