Damascus, VA has an annual festival called Trail days. This serves as reunion for many past Thru-hikers, A meeting point for many current thru-hikers who have stretched apart while hiking, and a service point were many hikers can get gear repairs direct from manufacturers and an all together fun time.
The local Baptist church welcomed us to town with cold gatorade. I was lucky enough to hike into to town the night before the festival, many others had to shuttle in from different points along the trail.
Festival banner on main street.
The trail goes through town and as a symbol of its importance to the trail the town park has a decommisioned shelter in it.
The athletic fields on the edge of town were dubbed tent city, where most of the hikers camped for the weekend. The blue plastic tarps was my tent for the weekend. I have sent my old tent home and had not bought a hammock tarps yet.
Several hikers at the baptist church for free hotdogs chili and chips.
Many hikers have dogs with them, apparently this is common since one house put this outside on there front lawn.
The Baptist church also brought in the county disaster relief vehicle, so hikers could shower thoughout the weekend. The irony did not escape me, cleaning hikers waranted a disaster in the county's mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment