Today is the annual Trail Days! Trail Days is a festival hosted by the town of Damascus, VA. The festival itself runs several days long, but the majority of events are on Saturday. There’s an area called, “Tent City”, where the hikers camp. It’s $5- to stay there all weekend and tends to become a bit of a mad house, as one would expect. We opted for the comfort of a hotel since we have a vehicle. During the festival there are things like: gear give-a-ways, foot washes/massages, free showers and laundry, gear washing and also waterproofing stations, vendors for repairs, and all other kinds of hiker focused service booths. There is also a parade and talent show that hikers can be a part of. They have food trucks, face painting, craft tents, etc. Locals, past hikers, current hikers and their families all attend. It’s such a part of the AT culture, it’s definitely something we’ve been looking forward to.
We saw a lot of people we hadn’t in a while: our friends Jordan, Kyle, and GQ, Grey Eagle (and we got to meet his wife), Gone Girl, Brave, The Dog Father, and more. We even ran into a couple that had treated us with trail magic. They made us feel like celebrities because as we were talking to Grey Eagle, they walked up and yelled, “Hey! The Divert!” It was the couple from Grand Rapids, he is a pastor. He is talking at a church in Abingdon the next day. We hope to be able to attend. I do miss being able to go to church.
We each got a pair of Farm to Feet socks for sharing a story about our experience on the AT. At one of the gear give-a-ways, I won a backpack from Gregory!!! It’s worth at least $200-. I was pretty freaking excited! We also stopped to get one of our air mattresses patched, as well as the screen on our tent.
Partway through the day it poured for almost two hours. You could tell who the thru-hikers were, because we kept walking in the rain while checking out the vendors. Everyone else was huddled under the tents. The parade of hikers ran during the storm and it didn’t phase them a bit. The hikers had smiles pasted on their faces while they cheered and danced in the rain. It was a bit mad really, but the joyous kind of mad that celebration brings with it.
Later we watched the talent show. There were guitar players, singers, poets and more. Snow Monkey went up to recite a poem he wrote while on the trail. We hooted and hollered in support. During almost the entire talent show, Warthog sat in line for funnel cake. It was a ridiculous long time, but totally worth it. I usually don’t care for funnel cakes. I don’t know if it’s my hiker palate or what… but it was delicious!
After the talent show we watched a hiker wedding down near the river. To be honest, I’m still not sure if this was a legit/legal wedding or not. From the ceremony, it seems like they are only committing to each other until they reach Katadhin. The Dog Father gave the bride away. Her bridesmaid sang what she could remember of Ave Maria. Instead of kissing at the end, the couple shotgunned a beer. Being the wedding photographer I am, I of course had to take a few photos. They already had a person recording it all, so these were for my own personal memories. After the ceremony they went to Tent City for the reception. Their cake had “Happy Birthday” written across the top. I think it was real. However, it was all so kitschy it was sometimes challenging to find sincerity. If it was, I truly wish them all of the happiness in the world.
After the wedding we went back to the main festival and played some yard games. As evening fell, so did the temperature.
We decided to head back to the hotel to warm up and get to sleep. But first, we had to stop for dinner. Amazingly, a day of funnel cakes and food truck tacos didn’t seem to fill us up.
-ansel