Reasonover Rd. in Dupont and Memories

Crossing Reasonover Creek

Hiking in Dupont State Recreational Forest  is all about choosing the right trailhead. Today Beth, Jay W. and I walked 13.3 miles today to connect pieces of trail from my aborted hike a few weeks ago.

We parked at Fawn Lake on Reasonrover Rd. but eschewed the lake. Instead, we headed to Reasonover Creek Trail, the backbone of this hike. We’re in the southeastern quadrant of Dupont Forest, not exactly where most visitors go.

Jay, Beth’s friend, is a Faulkner scholar at U. of Mississippi. But more important to me, he’s the first person I’ve talked to that attended Camp Summit, a summer camp that bordered the Dupont facility; the land is now part of Dupont Forest. Jay, his younger brother, and a friend were at the boy’s camp in 1974, he thinks. Since he only went for one summer when he was twelve years old, he doesn’t remember much.

He remembers that it rained every day.
The song “Hello Mother, hello Father” pops into my head. When I look it up, I find that it’s really

Hello Muddah, hello Fadduh
Here I am at Camp Granada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining.

Since most outdoor activities were curtailed, the boys spent a lot of their time at the riflery range because they were able to stand under cover, so much time that Jay became a Marksman First Class. It sounded impressive to me.

Rock formation on the trail

Creamed Beef on Toast was served a lot, referred to as DVOT (Dog Vomit On Toast) but he liked it. When probed a little, Jay realized that they did other stuff like beading in arts and craft, and even a little sailing.

He remembers that Ben Cart, the owner of the camp, visited once during Jay’s session. Cart’s dog messed with a skunk and the boys washed the dog with tomato juice. “It could have been V-8”, Jay says.

But Jay didn’t have the Eureka moment like at the end of the song. Jay’s experience with weather was so negative that he and his brother never went to Camp Summit again and this  was Jay’s first visit back at Dupont since his camp days.

We walk north to Turkey Knob and come back, picking up the Poplar Hill Loop. On the loop, a car identified as a 1950s Nash Rambler by another blogger sits on the side of the trail. The car has been there for a long, long time, having been stripped of anything of value over the years.

We make our way to Lake Julia, the site of the Girls Camp.  The girls’ beautiful dining room building was removed by the NC Forest Service; if you can’t maintain a structure, you need to take it down. Jay remembers going to a dance here once.

Jay at the Camp Summit sign

Unfortunately, we can’t go to the Boys Camp site. All the buildings have been removed and the entrance to the area has now been declared off limits with a “Do Not Enter” sign.

I’m glad that I was able to take pictures before the sign went up. Still, Jay is happy to see the “Camp Summit Rd.” sign.

We head back on Conservation Rd., looking for Shortcut Trail which is on my 2015 map. No sign of it. We find one end of a closed trail and figure that had been the trail. On the large 2018 map on the information board, there’s no sign of Shortcut Trail; it must have been decommissioned.

Back at the car before the downpour starts.