A Walk In The Woods (or) Urban Sprawl (or) The Tower Hunt (or) Backyard Woods Still Exist!

Couldn't come up with a good title, so there are a few for ya!

One day, months ago, we noticed a cell phone tower going up in our neighborhood. It was just off the main road, going out of our neighborhood the "back way". Fortunately, it was an Alltel tower (Which is who my service with my work cell phone is with). Now I have "full bars" in my house when I once was in constant roam.

Shortly after that thrill wore off, my wife and I were driving home and noticed another cell phone tower. We live on a dead-end road, at the end of it. So while driving to our house it just hit us and we looked up and there it was, in front of us. We don't remember seeing it being built or anything.

This fascinated me for days. At night, there were no lights so I assumed it wasn't active. I was hoping it was a sprint tower, since that is who my wife is with. One night, we saw the lights on and checked her phone... no dice... oh well.

So I had a day off a week or two ago (Or I didn't go into work, I can't remember which.) and figured "I am going to find the base of that tower."

So I set out. My first goal was to drive to it. I mean, they didn’t just plop it in the middle of the woods, they had to have roads. So I got my GPS in hand and hipped in the truck ad drove to places in Emerald Mountain that I didn’t realize existed.

Once I found the tower, I decided to drive further past it. I instantly went into some time period about 60 years ago. I was on a dirt road, with old houses about an acre apart from each other. All owned by black farmers.

I felt unwelcome, as I am sure on this dirt road they know every person who lives down that way. So I marked the tower on the GPS and went back home.

Luckily, we have a great relationship with our next door neighbor (and their German Sheppard.) and since this tower was behind THEIR next door neighbor's home, I went into their backyard. Petted their German Sheppard, and hopped their back fence and set out.

There was no trail. The first 10 yards was spent hunched over half the time, avoiding branches. It wasn't long before I came to a very large ditch. Being a lover of fishing, my heart foolishly leapt! I though "Water! Fish!" Stupid really, it was nothing more than a drainage ditch for the area I live in. Luckily, it hadn't rained in days, otherwise, the story would stop here.

So I climbed down this ditch. Had to have been 12 feet deep. I had to climb down. I slipped, and almost lost my ability to make any more children. Getting up was easier than coming down as God planted some trees and vines in just the right place. I noted some holes in the sides of this ditch. Opossums? Beavers? Racoons? Armadillos? Who knows? All of which have been spotted in the neighborhood.

So upon climbing out from the ditch I was faced with a site that made me very glad I had my GPS (And glad I remembered to mark my home on it along with the tower. This area must have been a pine tree farm at one time. These trees were all the same size, and were planted at an angle... making everywhere I turned look the same. It was like a carnival fun house.

Looking at my GPS, I got the general direction to hike, and I set out. I couldn’t see the tower of course, too many trees. So many, in fact, that the GPS lost signal many times. I came to a small clearing, a radius of about 20 yards. You could tell deer laid here often (Another animal spotted in the neighborhood on an almost daily basis.) I took this opportunity to restart the GPS and get my location again. While I waited, I looked around and got spooked by what I saw... I saw a wooden structure... From where I stood, it looked like the side of a very old two story home. With VERY weathered wood. I thought about going to inspect it. Then thought better of the idea. Hobos man, hobos... I actually remember thinking that it might be a hidden Meth Lab and if someone is in there and they see me with a camera, they will try to kill me...

So I went for the tower again... Same deal with the trees, all alike. Yet not too much longer, a clearing came. It took me about 10 seconds to realize this was private property. The deer stands in the trees told me that. But I took a look around none-the-less. I could see the tower straight ahead of me, so I met that goal. This field was big, and there was Farm land on either side with horses, barns and all the other stuff youd find on a small farm...

I spent about 10 minutes snooping around and headed back... but not the way I came.

This new route took me closer to the wooden structure! And I was let down when I noticed it was a deer stand-hide. Then I got freaked out because I thought "People are deer hunting with rifles less than half a mile from my house?

All in all, it was a 1.5 mike hike in and out. I think I should contact the home owners assoc. about the deer stands in the woods...

Moral of the story; You can still find woods to explore. When I was a kid, I had an endless wood full of trails right in my back yard. I am glad I still have them, with the urban sprawl in this country; they are becoming a thing of the past. Of course, once Old Man deer Hunter gets the right price, he will sell all of his land and there will be homes back there instead of woods ...