Since starting the trail in April, the talk around the camp fire has been about making it to Damascus, VA in time for Trail Days. Now that the weekend has come and gone, I doubt that the topic of conversation will stray far from Trail Days.
The AT runs directly through the center of this town and every year they invite hikers to come in and enjoy some hospitality.
Tents are everywhere from private lawns, to the outfield of the ball field, and on private lots along the river.
Some of the Lollygagger clan found them selves camped in Sherwood Forest. Norush found us and invited us in. Along the river on private property, we were just outside of tent city but far enough away from the Riff-raff crew. Sherwood forest was the only camp community with a "grotto", a pool set up in the creek with a fire pit in the middle of the pool and a hammock over the creek.
Vendors set up within tent city had no intentions of selling products. Their main mission was to make any necessary repairs to equipment, or in many cases, just replace and upgrade. Hiking poles were cleaned, fixed, and replaced. Nobody and Toka had their tent repaired from where Sawdust decided to run through it.
The First Baptist Church gave free medical screeings including skin cancer screenings and foot exams and treatment. Even the doggy doctor was there to give the hiking pups a check up.
Saturday, everyone gathered for the annual hiker parade. Unsurprisingly, AT hikers past and present get together and walk. The parade goes through town as a sea of happy and refreshed (some rowdy) peace lovers. It was a shock when shouts, screams, and thuds began spreading quickly from very close to the end of the parade and very near behind us. A car drove into the crowd of parade hikers, hitting several people and trapping one under the vehicle. Supposedly the driver was elderly and a medical condition caused the accident. We found out later that night that everyone involved was stable which was a huge relief for all of the hikers.
Fires were everywhere, so it wasn't hard to find a group of people to just stand and watch the fire with. As the evening progressed, the people and drums got louder. We had heard that there was a drum circle but it wasn't long before we could hear it. We followed the sound to the other side of tent city where the mood changed and the temperature was muchgreater than just a few yards away. We made our way through the crowd and immediately found ourselves in a circle of intranced hikers dancing a circle and chanting around a giant fire. No one poked this furnace, just threw more logs on it. Something tribal happened dancing in the mud and being roasted by the fire. Everyone has their own motives and personal opinions but around that ring, everyone was there for the same reason, to celebrate.
The next day things started to break down. Hikers drug themselves back to where they were before the celebration. Some stayed to recover and some just hit the trail from Damascus. Waiting on our ride, we stayed Sunday night through even more rain. Monday morning, sleeping like a champ, I woke up on a water bed. Water had collected under the tent and lucky did not leak through. Everything was wet, soggy, and muddy. What an excellent excuse to go to a hotel in Abington to clean up and dry off...and see Star Trek! Norush managed to get us a ride with Rush Hour and his girl friend Tara. It was a great night with great people.... and popcorn and dry clothes... it's the little things.
Before we left Damascus, we sadly had to say good-bye to Nobody and Toka and the three best hiking dogs on the trail, Sawdust, Ghost, and Mustard. They were headed back to Knoxsville for the summer concert season including Reggae Fest and Bonaroo. It was sad to see them go. They were excellent hiking buddies and great friends. I'm going to be super jealous when they are listening to The XX live and we are eating Ramen noodles. I have a feeling we will see them again soon though.
Well, now we are waiting for a shuttle to take us back south to finally get back on the trail. It will be tough after being off for so long, but I cannot wait to get out of town! We will be going back in at Hampton, TN near Laurel Fork Falls and should be passing back through Damascus in about 6 days. Check ya later!
Photos below include the entrance to the Trail Days event with Sawdust and the other pups seeing the doctor. Kris and I with brand new beanies hand stitched by ladies for over 900 hikers. And just hanging around Camp Mellow with the crew. Good times and great people.
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