Once a year, this empty field on Grandfather Mountain turns into the biggest Highland Games in the world. For the past 29 years, Bobby Dobson has worked security for the event. It was six years ago, as Dobson walked up to those tents after it rained, that lightning struck.
Lightning came out of the ground and up his legs. The man he was with hit the ground.
"Immediately, I had the awfullest headache, and it blew out the fillings out of my teeth, and I had to have those pulled," Dobson said.
"Some of the campers, some of their stuff got hit and the security tent, my center pole in the center of the tent, it burnt around it," Dobson said.
He said they found a big hole more than 150 yards away.
"This is where it came out of the ground, you can tell it came out because it was all bled out of the ground, not blown down," Dobson said.
He says he does things differently now when there are storms around.
"I get in my vehicle and stay out of the way. I was one of those folks that say, 'it won't happen to me,' and it did but people just need to get to shelter not take it for granted because you know we're not guaranteed our next breath," Dobson said.
Stephen Mcclellan is both a firefighter and a member of the Linville Central Rescue Squad. He says it's in his blood. His turnout gear is always ready inside the truck, along with anything he could need to respond to a call.
"If I'm OK. My family's OK. Why not make the world a better place," he said.
He was one of many that responded last year when six people were struck by lightning while on a trail at Grandfather Mountain State Park, in the same area where Dobson was struck five years before.
"They were just on a day hike, and it happened to be a pop-up thunderstorm," Mcclellan said. Two people were hurt.
"The force of it hit, and there was flying debris from tree limbs, and it knocked two of them off their feet to the point they had minor injuries from falling on the rocks," Mcclellan said.
They were at the highest point he says, and they were the highest thing on the mountain.
"They was up near the top, and there was no trees. They were walking across the rock," Mcclellan said.
He said lightning strikes in the mountains are not that rare.
"The ground here has got a lot of iron in it, so your updraft winds, the sun heats it and your updrafts come and colder air sinks and that's where you get your different electrical charges," Mcclellan said. "Once it charges up, it's got to go somewhere."
So if your heading on the trails, always check the weather, plan hikes early in the morning, and if one pops up, always find the lowest point to take cover.