Trail days! – The walk

We had heard about Trails Days long before we even walked a mile on the trail. Say we were excited to hit the road and head to the famous ‘Trail Town, USA!’ is an understatement! The small trail town that normally has a population of less than a thousand residents becomes home to the largest festival on the Appalachian Trail.

Travel to Trail Days

Cody had a car reserved for us to drive from Waynesboro, VA to Damascus. Even more exciting, we arranged our tram to pick us up along the trail on our way down. The first person from our tram to show up was Chill Out and Apollo. It was good to see them both…and Chill Out’s dog, River! After a quick breakfast, we packed up the mini van and headed out.

With Apollo and Chill Out driving in their own car behind us, we first stopped to pick up Tripwire and Yule Log. Nightcrawler was completely immersed in the movie that was playing on the built-in DVD player in the back seat. He took off his headphones and paused the Finding Nemo movie he’d been watching when we picked them up. Soon enough we were picking up our Serial Killer friend at a hostel a little south of Glasgow. We all quickly decided that a late lunch stop was in order and we all agreed on pollo-fil-a. I still wonder how much food a group of hungry hikers can pack away at one time!

When we arrived in Damascus, it was exactly as I expected. Hikers walking everywhere. The tent city was already almost full with a sea of ​​tents arranged across the huge field. The row of vendors’ tents is already set up for the next day. And volunteers advertise a free meal at the church just across the street from the tent city. Of course, we all made sure to get tickets to the free dinner. That first night we all went to sleep surrounded by the enthusiasm of other hikers happy to be on Trail Days.

Friday at Trail Days

The next day was filled with visiting vendor tents and collecting raffle tickets for various giveaways. Apollo and I participated in a cherry pie eating contest hosted by The Trek. We didn’t hold the palm to a very impressive competitor who left us all staring at our half-eaten pies as he claimed his victory. But I wasn’t complaining. Free calories are free calories! It was also great to meet everyone at The Trek booth.

The Trail family is together again

Trail Days has so many amazing services for hikers. I had the hip belt on my Osprey backpack shortened at a backpack repair stand. Billie Goat got a free haircut. And we ate more than one free meal served by various organizations. The festival also offered free showers and laundry. Shout out to the women in the bathrooms who share their shampoo and body wash with hikers who didn’t have any with them. It was really great to see the hiking community supporting each other. And speaking of community, we ran into more than one hiker we hadn’t seen since very early on the trail. In addition to meeting many other new faces who are also trying hard on this epic journey. And, of course, there were the nightly festivities in the forest. But perhaps it’s best to leave those stories unpublished.

Saturday in Damascus

The second day of Trail Days did not disappoint. We bought new Town Shirt sun hoodies and looked for a 40° double quilt. But we weren’t surprised that none of the vendors were selling double comforters. Maybe it’s something we’ll have to special order. The 20° quilt we are currently using is too hot. Maybe we’ll update when we get back on track. All of our friends were showing off their new gear too! Billie Goat left her travel days sporting a new quilt and sleeping mat. Nightcrawler scored a bargain on a Sam Bob hoodie and a new pair of Hoka trail shoes. Cody won one of the raffles and received a fanny pack from Granite Gear. And I caught two different gifts that were thrown into the crowd. I gave Nemo’s seat pad to Nightcrawler and the Big Agnes hat I caught I gave to Cody.

The second day also had the famous Trail Days Parade. Hikers lined up based on the year they hiked to walk down the main street through town. Like a lot of people were standing along the edges of the street cheering us on and there were people walking in the parade. Everyone was smiling! The power was electric! The children feverishly dipped their water rockets in buckets of water and sent streams of water over the crowd of hikers. We feel like celebrities or dignitaries being celebrated as we pass by joyful onlookers! What a feeling!

Our little swimming hole

When the night’s raffles were over and the vendors were finishing up, we met up with our friends Energizer and Lost and Found. They joined us and a few others who wanted to get away from the busy festival and go to a local pool to swim in the Backbone Tunnel. Chill Out had shown us the little private oasis when we walked through Damascus almost a month earlier.

But first we needed to make a quick stop at Dairy King. I don’t know what I expected, but the food and ice cream were excellent!

When we got to the swimming hole, everyone took turns swimming in the cold water of the mountain stream. To warm up afterwards, we sat on a large rock swapping stories about each of our hikes. It was so nice to get away from the crowds at the festival and just hang out in the quiet serenity of the pool. After drying off enough, we climbed onto the Backbone Tunnel Bridge. The views from there were nice and it was nice to show the kids a cool place we just checked out the last time we were in Damascus.

Our last day in Damascus

Our last day in the city went by super fast. We woke up and all the tent city residents were packing up their camps. People were busy collecting garbage and loading vehicles. We made sure to wake up with enough time to have breakfast at the Damascus Diner before having to pack up our own camp. We texted everyone in our van to meet in the parking lot. It was like herding cats, but we finally found all of our people and began the long trip back to Waynesboro.

Just as we did on our way to Damascus, we stopped for lunch and then dropped everyone off at their respective mile markers. Two went to Glasgow, one was left at Daleville and the last returned to Waynesboro with us. I don’t know if I felt more tired after Trail Days or after long days of hiking. But I can say that I was very happy to get a hotel room for the night to recover from the exciting weekend and prepare for more hiking in the days to come. And although Cody had finally gotten over the serious poison attack he had been battling for almost the last 2 weeks, that night he began to show the first signs of a rather nasty cold. He rested while I went to the store to eat dinner and resupply. We lay in bed watching Star Wars movies. Tomorrow we will be back on the track!

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