Date: 2010-04-25
From: TN 91

To: Damascus, Va
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 49 TN91 into DamascusYes! I am finally officially in Damascus, VA. This is the home of Trail Days, the biggest hiker festival on the East Coast (or possibly anywhere) I have been coming for the past 7 years and am really looking forward to being here during the year of my actual thruhike. The festival is 3 weeks from now and I'll definitely be coming back then, but for now this town looks very strange without thousands of people all over the place and cars parked everywhere. It was really weird walking through the grassy park after my 21 mile day and not seeing it packed with the tents of gear venders along with all the other normal craft show wares you see at street fairs. This really is your average sleepy little mountain town.My day started with the hiker breakfast special at Cowboys and then JB drove me out to the trailhead. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and the trail started by going through this beautiful rolling grassy farm field. The valley fell away from me for miles and was awash in brilliant new day sunlight. I could not imagine any place of worship more glorious than that spot on that morning. I have a pic of it in my photo album you can see by clicking the link at the bottom of this entry. I took in the view from a bench strategically located in the perfect spot for such lolligagging and then took off again. I had 21 miles to go before my day was thru.For the next 10 hours I saw only 1 person and then only briefly as I passed him as he plodded northward with his heavy pack. Oh, did I forget to mention that I am slackpacking again today? Its good to have friends. Thetrail stayed up on the ridgelne and the walking was pretty easy, but not very scenic. I did come around a bend and come face to face with a large deer about 40' away. I stopped and we stared at each other for 15 seconds before he leasurely hopped off the trail followed by a doe. A little while later I saw a box turtle on the side of the trail. So my wildlife count for the day was 2 deer, 1 turtle, 1 hiker and a few hundred gnats.BTW, there has been an update on the Jolly Rancher front. Blue Raspberry has now replaced watermelon as my favorite flavor. I thought this was important information that you need to know.Today's hike was so uneventful that I used my MP3 player for the last 10 miles. I rarely use it while hiking because it makes me feel like I am on a treadmill watching a movie screen. Having earbuds in really seperates you from your environment. Maybe that's why they make the hiking so much easier. And since their weren't any other human beings within a mile of me I was singing along at the top of my voice. It felt very satisfying to belt out the words as I power hiked the trail. But then very near the town I came around the bend and saw a young couple coming up the hill 100' away. I pulled out one of the ear buds and smiled sheepishly and apologized. They smiled back and said "not a problem, you sounded very happy"   I think it was because I was less than a 1/2 mile from town rather than being on the trail. But who knows, maybe I really am happy on the trail.The first thing I did as I walked through town was step into the pizza place and ordered a pint of draft beer and chugged it down. Then I continued my walk to The Place where I had left my pack and still had my sleeping bag rolled out. Tintin was here. I was happy to see him. He had hiked the 40 mile challange into town. What a crazy thing to do. I took a nice hot shower then went back to the pizza place for pizza and more beer, laughed a lot, then came back here and went to bed.Goodnight and sweet dreams to everyone out there not living the Trail Singing Loudly and Badly Dream.