Days 50 - 51: Trail Days

Trail Days has been interesting to say the least. When I first arrived to Damascus I was taken over to what's called "Tent City". It's essentially a field where everyone sets up their tents. I had to pay a small fee and was able to enter and set up my tent. The rest of our group set up near each other which was nice. When I was about to go to bed, Peanut showed up. She'd hiked about 38 miles to get here today and was exhausted. She came in and we all helped out by setting up her tent, taking off her shoes, washing, and massaging her feet for her. We went to bed shortly after.

I woke yesterday morning and discovered that a church had a massive trailer set up near the entrance of Tent City and they had showers in them, free of charge for hikers. In addition they offered to do laundry for free. I immediately took a shower, changed to town clothes, then gave them my trail clothes. The festival was very hot and very crazy. People were up all night blowing trumpets and dancing around a drum circle. Later in the day everyone went to the local thrift store to get dressed for the hiker prom and we all ended up getting amazing outfits. I already had cheetah print leggings so I found the ugliest shirt I could find and made a great outfit. I made the usual rounds to the outfitter and grocery store for resupply. While I was at the outfitter I found out that a man was premiering an AT documentary that he'd made later in the night. I actually recognized him from one of his videos I'd come across while dreaming of the AT a few months ago so I was excited to see it. About midday when the day was at its hottest, Blue and I walked out to the river together and soaked our legs and talked.

We didn't end up going to prom because it was 21+ and a few in our group were under 21. So I went to watch the documentary instead. It was really well done and it was about Chris, who'd hiked in 2013 and lost his brother in a motorcycle accident. It was very emotional. Later in the night everyone went out to drink and I wasn't feeling like it so I stayed back with Bullet and we had some great talks. Overall it was a fun weekend but I am very ready to hit the trail again and be around way less people.