Tater Hill

One of the old mountain past times was hang gliding. Nowadays it tends to be more focused on paragliding, but I'm still quite partial to the hang gliding stories of old.

Hang glider.

Paraglider.

I haven't done it myself (yet) but my father used to be a hang gliding instructor at the one and only Tater Hill, NC.

My dad standing at the old launch point (It is a straight drop past the rock's edge).
In his own words, "It certainly had a pucker factor."

Tater Hill is the prime location to hang glide in the North Carolina mountains and is owned by Bubba Goodman (no, I'm not making that up).

However, reaching the launch point of Tater Hill requires some finesse. And by finesse I mean four-wheel drive and at least 20-30 minutes of going about two miles an hour straight up the side of a mountain. I digress.

Hang gliding seems romantic to me.

I can't imagine seeing this view from the air.

My dad tells the best stories about sitting on the side of the mountain with friends waiting for the wind to be blowing just the right direction, talking the day away as they overlooked the valley below. Romantic.

Dad and his friends also made friends with the people that owned the landing field below. Simpler times when you could just land a personal aircraft in someone's backyard and be invited in for tea instead of being shot.

I think I would enjoy every part of hang gliding except the jumping off a cliff portion. But that seems crucial to the experience. Again, I digress.

To really experience Tater Hill, you have to attend the Tater Hill Open which occurs annually in August and brings paragliders and hang gliders alike for a weekend of flying and fun.

At the Open, the sky is full of colored gliders as far as the eye can see.

This event shows a great collection of mountain folk, and the integration of an old past time within a new generation.

Skip to 1:30 to watch a great interview with Bubba Goodman about the origin of hang gliding at Tater Hill and all their shenanigans.

But what's a post without a redneck reference? I won't disappoint with this one.

At the base of Tater Hill there is a piece of a private property that has a very interesting guard.

Yes, that is a real tank.

Bless the heart of whoever trespasses onto this private property.