Trail Days!!

Trail Days Damascus VA

Well Trail days has come and gone for another year.  What a year it was!  Rain, fun, beer, good friends, food and of course, everyone knows of the tragedy that happened during the parade. The good news from the that is everyone will survive to hike again. 

Anyway, I am not going to dwell on the vehicle vrs pedestrian or in my opinion, the poor showing by the local police, fire and EMS crews.  I do have to wonder about a town of 1000 people who can have multiple humvee's for their police (why do they need those) but seem to have no training in MCI structure and command.  I would have to suspect the town is spending homeland security monies and my taxes on toys and not training.  Stupid.



Hikers Camping

Ok so there was my rant.  We arrived in Damascus Thursday night and quickly set up in the
campgrounds.  I had brought my tarp and quickly found a suitable  spot to pitch it.  Consideration was made to the terrain as well as for dead limbs in the trees as there was a prediction of severe storms in the forcast.  We ate, walked around the campgounds, partook of a few adult beverages and hung out with the hikers camping around us.  Luckily the storms never arived.

Friday I woke up early and we headed out to see what was going on.  We walked to town, moseyed around and ended up at Cowboys for breakfast.  Nothing like a great biscuit/gravy/egg breakfast with a side of locals gossiping.  The rest of the day was spend walking around enjoying the festival. Who can't resist people watching when there are 1000's of stinky hikers around.  The day was spent eating, the Blue Blaze sucks....I want Quincy's back, drinking and walking around looking at vendors.  So the big story of the day was I lost my phone.

Yes, I lost my phone.  It was raining and we decided to take a shuttle back into town because it was raining.  We got dropped of, went to get something to eat, talked for about an hour and a half and I noticed my phone was missing.  Well, long story short, after dumpster diving through chicken bones and garbage, I had given up on finding the stupid thing and decided to head back to the camp and head out to the next town to get a new one.  We picked up the shuttle back to camp and lo and behold, my phone was there with the driver.  There are still good people in this world.  Thank you to whoever turned in my phone.

Ad Hoc rear rain protection for
my tarp.

So the rest of the day was spent dodging raindrops and shopping.  I managed to buy a new pair of trail runners, picked up my tent from Yama Mountain Gear and had a wonderful if cool and rainy day.  Evening was spent eating and hanging out by the fire (a good hot fire will keep going even in the rain) and staying damp.  It was a good day.


The night brought rain and a bit of lighning but I stayed dry under my tarp.  However, the time honored drum circle and bonfire on the other side of the camp and the copious amounts of pot and alcohol being used in the camp made for a noisy night.  Oh well, no big deal it was funny listening to the stoners as I fell asleep.  Gotta love them.


Saturday we awoke and headed out to a bit of breakfast at the Volunteer Fire Department, packed up camp and moved to downtown Damascus where we were to check into the Old Mill Inn for the evening.  Sweet, a place to hang wet tents and tarps and a real hot shower.  A bit more walking around and we took our places to watch the hiker parade.  Ok, that did not happen and a somber mood fell across the town.  Google it if you want to find out more.  I do not care to go into it.  Suffice to say it was not good.  After that, an hour at the Hiker Talent Show put us in a better mood and we found our laughter again.  A brief walk back to the Inn and a bit of dinner and again another day of Trail Days was put to bed. 

Sunday we spent a leisurely morning between the Inn and the vendors, packed our stuff, bid goodbye to one of my favorite small towns and headed back home.  Sad that Trail Days had ended but with renewed want to hike the trail again.

Life is good.

Next Post will provide more pictures of Trail Days.