Buckle up folks, I have a mega post for you here today! Sorry, not sorry…
Day 61 – Welcome aboard the USS Hiker Trash
The morning started early with a 5am wake up and leaving the hotel at 5:30am. I grabbed Navigator and Haystack from our hotel and then headed to McDonald’s for breakfast. Then the great journey of the USS Hiker Trash officially began! The appropriately named Navigator was my first officer, and the second in command sat up front with me, while the rest of the hiker trash piled up in the back.
Our trusty steed, the USS Hiker Trash!
The USS Hiker Trash’s first stop was the Dripping Rock parking area to pick up Fozzy and Dreamer, just a 20-minute drive away. After grabbing them, we continued down the Blue Ridge Parkway, enjoying beautiful views and numerous deer playing Frogger with us along the way. We continued for an hour, until we picked up Tagalong on Long Mountain Wayside outside of Bueno Vista. Shortly after this, the interior of the USS Hiker Trash began to smell like a hiker. Then on to Glasgow where I picked up a pack of mine at Stanimals and picked up Shooter and Blueberry Turtle at the city shelter. We were really starting to roll now! Finally, we arrived in Troutville and picked up Queso, Beer Run, Squirrely, and AFib for our final pickup. Queso even brought me a coffee from the cafe down the street, which was much appreciated and why she is the best! We were quite tight with 12 people in the 15-seater van, since it had no storage room and everyone had their backpacks with them. Only 2 hours to Damascus…
Passengers and crew of the USS Hiker Trash.
About an hour later we made a stop in Marion to pick up supplies for our trip. Essential items like food, beer, foam coolers, ice, and Walmart t-shirts on clearance for the weekend. I could have even bought a stick of deodorant and handed it out to freshen us up a bit. After an hour of rest there, we finished the last leg of the trip and arrived in Damascus around noon. The city was lively and it was amazing to see so many people around. We arrived at Tent City, I dropped everyone off and then found a place to park the van. Fortunately, I found a place not far away and walked to Tent City to set up my tent. I quickly set up my things and then the festivities began!
Just a little look at Tent City
I started by “hydrating” myself a little before visiting the vendor booths. It was slow progress as every 10 feet someone in our group ran into people we knew and had to stop and chat. Which was a lot of fun, but at that pace, we would never make it through all the vendor booths. We slowly split into smaller groups to combat this and that allowed people to focus on the things they needed or wanted.
Some of the equipment vendors at Trail Days
For example, I stopped by the Jolly Gear booth and looked at the t-shirts there. I wanted to buy one of their short sleeve hiking shirts, but they were sold out in XL and XXL the few times I visited their website. Looking at the rack I found the t-shirt I was looking for and in XL! So I grabbed it and tried it on and it looked great. So I went to buy it and was reviewed by none other than Jolly himself. He confirmed that I was lucky because it was showing that size and style was sold out and I wasn’t sure how it got on the shelf for Trail Days! I’m going to look real quick now. With groceries in tow, several of us headed to the Damascus Diner to grab something to eat since we were hungry.
After dinner we continued touring the city. Even getting some free food and meeting more people we’ve met along the way. Finally we returned to Tent City, where we continued a little more “hydration”, before finally entering the forest. The forest contained some of the most colorful elements of trail days, including the infamous drum circle, bonfires, fairy lights, and free food delivered by a church group and Riff Raff. We left at night.
Me, Queso and Beer ran away.
Day 62 – Dazed Trail
I woke up wet. Why was it wet? That was the first question that came to me when I woke up. On my sleeping mat, my clothes and quilt were dry. However, everything that touched the floor of the store was wet. There were literally puddles on the floor of my tent. Then I noticed that the inner mesh part of my tent was sucked in by the rain fly. Condensation, but on steroids. I threw everything outside my store, as if it were a flea market, to dry in the morning sun. Luckily it was a warm and sunny morning, which helped the drying process a lot. I’ve never had this much condensation before, but in a big grassy field with hundreds of tents, I guess this is what happens.
After getting my stuff out of my tent to dry, my morning started by going to the free doctors at Trail Days. I wanted them to look at my ankle, which I taped to provide additional stability when I was injured. As I think I mentioned before, after removing the tape, my ankle was quite itchy and had a slight rash. Since I removed the tape over a week ago and there were free doctors a few hundred yards away, I decided to get it checked out. They looked at him and suggested that they apply hydrocortisone cream to resolve the itching and rash. So I followed their advice, took one of their hydrocortisone cream packets and applied it to my ankle. Then, realizing that the post office closed in 18 minutes and I was an 18-minute walk away, I put my shoes back on and hurried over there. Fortunately, Google Maps time projections are not based on hikers and I got there in 12 minutes. I was the last one to arrive at the post office and was able to send a package home. I swapped my 20° quilt for a 40° quilt and sent some of my cold weather gear home, lightening my load a couple of pounds.
Shortly after I came across Queso, Shooter and the Flying Dutchman! They wanted to go to the brewery and I said as long as I could get some water and food, I was in. So we headed there and I stopped at the barbecue stand in front of the brewery and got a pulled pork sandwich and a smoked mac and cheese sausage. They were both pretty good. I then spent the next two hours wandering around downtown Damascus to see if I won any of the giveaways I was entering, exploring gear stores, and catching up with other hikers. We even did a photo session provided by Polar Steps for trail families, which was fun.
Straight hairstyle for the photo shoot.
At this point, it was time to head to the starting point of the hiker parade. So our motley group headed there, after a quick stop for supplies at the Marathon gas station, of course. We arrived at the starting point of the parade and gathered by hiker class (year).
Staging of the parade
Here again I ran into different people I had met along the trail, it was so fun to see so many familiar faces! And there were still so many people I hadn’t met before. Soon the parade began and we headed towards the center of Damascus.
AT Hiker Class of 2026
Basically, as I understand it, the hiker parade is a parade of hikers based on the year they hiked the trail, and we march through town while people watch and kids spray us with water. Sometimes super soakers or smaller water guns, sometimes larger hoses and contraptions, and sometimes just buckets of water. I didn’t get completely soaked, but by the end of the parade I was pretty soaked. Anyway, it was a lot of fun!
Getting wet!
After the parade I headed to Food City to pick up more hydrocortisone cream, and while I was there, I picked up a few essentials for the rest of the day: beer, ice, and popcorn. I got a ride back to Tent City, where we regrouped and enjoyed a few cold drinks. We finally bonded over a plan to go to Wicked Chicken for dinner on the outskirts of town. On our way walking to an area to catch a shuttle, we were treated to wood-fired pizza and hot dogs at a house, which was amazing.
Shooter, Queso and I enjoying free hot dogs!
However, we were not completely satiated and continued with our dinner plan. We arrived at the shuttle pickup area and waited a bit to no avail. Finally, a sheriff’s deputy approached and we asked him about the status of the ferries. I wasn’t sure, but with a few boos from our merry band of idiots, I could have supposedly taken us side by side to the Wicked Chicken…
It was a long wait at Wicked Chicken, but I finally got some cottage cheese and wings. The food was pretty good and we washed it down with some ice cream afterwards! We then walked back to Tent City and enjoyed some additional cold drinks. At this point, the groups split up, some heading into the forest while others stay by the tents and hydrate. Since I was driving in the morning, I stayed in the tents and slept earlier. This time, I left one of my vestibules open to hopefully allow more airflow and less condensation in my tent. I didn’t win any giveaways but Trail Days was great!
Statistics for day 61:
0 miles
0′ rise, 0′ fall
Blackrock Gap Trailhead to Tent City @ Trail Days
7DSLC…
Stove use times: 10
Statistics for day 62:
0 miles
0′ rise, 0′ fall
Tent City @ Trail Days to Tent City @ Trail Days
8DSLC…
Stove use times: 10
