At the east end of the 12th Street Boardwalk in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, one man is building an artistic reputation that is rippling through the coastal South. It all began when Hunter Gibbes made a “doodle” in the Sunset Beach sand back in 2005. “It was after a long, late day on the beach talking with friends,” Hunter says. “No one wanted to pack up since we were all leaving the next day. Actual mazes started the following year, in 2006, and it has grown into what I do today.” The doodles and drawings that once bought Hunter more time in the sand are now the very thing that draws thousands of people to Sunset Beach every year.
Scroll through his photos on Facebook, and they are nothing short of jaw-dropping. Every single one. Image: Sunset Beach Maze Man
Now a certified local celebrity, Hunter (aka “Sunset Beach Maze Man“) creates intricately designed sand mazes for beachgoers to walk through and try to solve. He has created more than 500 beach mazes over 16+ years using only a shovel and his imagination — he never plans his mazes in advance. “It’s too hard to map one out on paper and attempt to transfer it to the beach,” Hunter says. “The scale is tough to manage from the paper to the beach. It’s easier for me to just make it up as I go along and hope that it turns out to be frustratingly fun.”
One of Maze Man’s most intricate mazes to date. Image: Sunset Beach Maze Man
Each maze can take Hunter 45 minutes to two-and-a-half hours to create, depending on the size and the complexity. The mazes often run the entire width of the beach from the dune line to the ocean — equivalent to a third of a football field — and nearly 200 feet from end to end. It’s hard to grasp the scale of these things, even from the fabulous drone photos Hunter posts regularly on his Facebook page.
By the end of last year, Hunter reported on a Facebook post that he’d made more than 500 mazes. “I do not have an exact number, but it’s quite a lot,” he says. Image: Facebook page
About his history with mazes, Hunter says, “All puzzles are a challenge to be solved and are quite fun whatever they are. Like everyone, I loved doing mazes in a book. But with those, you have the birds-eye view making it a bit easier.” On the other hand, his beach mazes have an entrance and an exit. But all you can see while you’re in them are the different options on the path in front of you.
“Some turn out harder than others,” Hunter says. “I try to make them as hard as I can, which creates more fun for everyone.” Hunter works each maze after completion to verify that people can get out. “I always know where ‘the cut’ was made to get one to the end. A couple of times, I forgot to go back and make that one ‘cut,’ and then you can’t get out. It all depends on how large it is and the number of interruptions I get while making it.” And interruptions are likely plentiful when you’re the famous Maze Man.
Hunter leans on the “maze testers” who try to solve the maze before he posts about it. Sometimes they find a fault in the puzzle, and Hunter fixes it before the public descends. Image: Sunset Beach Maze Man
“My wife was my biggest fan, followed closely by my two daughters,” Hunter tells me. “I loved for them to go through [my mazes] to gauge the difficulty based on how long they would take from start to finish. We would rate them on a scale of one (easy) to ten (tricky). My wife strived to walk EVERY MAZE I made — she was my ‘Official Maze Man Manager.’ Sadly, she passed away this past December, leaving a bit of a hole. I continue making them as she would want me to as they bring so much fun to everyone,” he adds.
The Maze Man, Hunter, with his wife and “Maze Man Manager,” Linda. Image: Sunset Beach Maze Man
Hunter’s lines are so geometrically sound it’s hard to fathom how he does it without a single digital instrument. It’s beyond impressive. “You basically start with a design like a circle or square or whatever as the middle,” he tells us. “From there, each successive ‘lane’ is an approximation to be wide enough to walk relatively easy. It’s just taken lots and lots of practice.”
And his skills do not stop at mazes. Hunter will often give the fans another puzzle like a numbers brain teaser when it’s too windy for a big maze. Directions might be: “Start in the first box by the arrow going in … walk the number of spaces in a block. You can go up, down, left, or right, but never diagonal! To solve, you must land exactly on the arrow pointing out!” You might also catch him building sandcastles. You know, in his spare time.
“Quite a lot of people think a maze is a labyrinth,” Hunter says. “A labyrinth has a path in, but once reaching the end, you retrace your steps back the way you came. A maze has options and choices about which way one can go, and you have to make a choice.” Image: Sunset Beach Maze Man
“On occasion, I have done mazes for friends and others who have special moments, such as an engagement or wedding.” He even makes special mazes and writes shoutouts to organizations doing good works in the community: “Y’all are A-MAZE-ING!”
Hunter says, “My goal is for everyone to have fun — whether you merely watch people going through, you go through and experience it yourself, or both. It is unique for Sunset Beach, and I enjoy the challenge of making them as tricky as I can.”
The Maze Man is a huge part of NC’s Brunswick Islands’ charm. The cluster of five barrier islands lies in the southernmost corner of the state, stretching from the Cape Fear River to the South Carolina border. Six pristine beaches, quaint island towns, and lots of locally owned B&Bs, restaurants, and shops are reminiscent of a simpler yesteryear’s beach vacation. People fall in love with the area and return year after year, generation after generation. And, of course, many return to solve the new mazes.
“The maze man is fun, but it’s YOU that is AMAZING,” reads the giant text beneath one entrance to a recent maze. And if that doesn’t sum up this man’s philosophy, I don’t know what does. Thanks for chatting, Hunter, and bringing so much additional sunshine to an already sunny place.
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