Date: 2004-04-12
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Damascus (The Place)
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: moderate rain

The Social Whirl (or Vortex)6:30PM, 4/13 - DamascusThe weather deteriorated during the night, and as I began to pack up with dawn's first light, the rain seemed to be pounding on the metal roof of the shelter harder than ever. I seriously considered sleeping in a bit longer, but town was calling. I had several pieces of mail waiting for me, I was going to have town food, and I was going to have my first zero day in nearly two weeks. So I kept packing at my usual pace, and by 7:15 had bid the Pokey Puppies a good hike, and was back on the Trail.In truth, once on the trail, the rain wasn't coming down as hard as it seemed from hitting on the roof. But it was still drizzling steadily, and kept it up for most of the morning.The walk in to Damascus was mostly downhill, except for one last mountain which was not only a tough climb, but the wind on top nearly blew me off my feet. But the toughest part of the last climb was that before it began, the AT coincided with the Virginia Creeper Trail (one of America's first rail trails) for the better part of a mile. I knew that the VC Trail ran straight into Damascus, almost level, while the AT was a ridge walk, often quite close to the VC Trail, but sometimes rising nearly 1000' above it. Ah, what expectations can do to the mind!On the way in to Damascus I met few hikers, because the weather was so wet and most thru-hikers were enjoying zeroing in town. I first met Mauro, on his second day of a likely flip flop, starting in Damascus. When I stopped in at a shelter for a bite, Wonder Lost (Joe Newton), was just getting up, debating wheher to start hiking since the sun was clearly trying to beak through. When the sun later became strong enough to cast a shadow, I shouted 'It's about time!' just as Curious George, the only thru-hiker I met out there came around the corner.By the time I was nearing Damascus, the sun was shining most of the time, and there were many flowering trees blooming in the woods. At first I thought they were dogwoods because of the time of year and the color, but on closer inspection decided they were something in the cherry family.The sun was shining strongly by the time I walked into Damascus, along a course shared by the Virginia Creeper and Appalachian Trails. The AT goes right down the main street of Damascus, so I had already run into half a dozen hikers, doing town-day things, before I got to the hostel where I was staying. For someone who has been by himself for 5 weeks, The Place hostel was an overwhelming place, with people rushing everywhere, some repairing gear, others sorting through their food purchases, and yet others preparing to do laundry.Since laundry is usually my first order of business when I get to town (unless it's eating lunch) I followed suit and gathered up my laundry and headed off to the laundromat. There were a half dozen hikers there. Almost immediately I was talking with Feather and her daughter, Wing. It seems that they had made a bet with Pop Tart, who was also there, that they would beat him and friend Mousetrap to Damascus from Kinkora hostel, 50 trail miles to the south. The first day out the ladies walked 24 miles, but the guys only did 8, expecting to be able to catch up the next day. But the next day the ladies walked the remaining 26 into Damascus, beating the guys by a couple of hours when they did a 42 mile day (I am planning to cover the same route in the opposite direction in three days of about 17 miles each.) All were exhausted.Soon after they left, LWOP struck up a conversation. He had done Springer to Harpers Ferry in two months a couple of years ago, and this year he is planning to do the whole Trail, but at a more leisurely pace. As we were talking, he mentioned that a bunch of people were planning to meet for dinner and invited me to come along.I was the first to show up at the restaurant (my excellent time sense again). Shortly thereafter LWOP joined me. I was delighted to hear that the get together had been organized by Quincy Girl. She and I had been exchanging e-mails since before starting to hike. I had figured she would be close to Damascus and was looking forward to meeing her. Shortly thereafter, QG came in, along with all the people I had met at the laundromat earlier, as well as Mousetrap, Hippie Longstocking, Photo Op, Eats, and several others. Soon I was treated to the boisterous, earthy sense of humor that I gather prevails along the Trail, and was made to feel right at home. In fact I bumped into many of that party several times today (Damascus is a rather small town, with hikers concentrated in only about 10 places so we are always bumping into each other.), and felt that I had made several friends. In particular, Quincy Girl turned out to be an absolutely delightful lady who will be doing her own flip flop later in the hike since she will be taking off over a month this summer for travel with her family. I look forward to running into her on her southward leg as I head north, probably in Maine.I got a taste of the social life within the thru-hiker community, and am looking forward to becoming a part of that after beginning my northward leg. I also got a glimpse of how that social life in town can hold a hiker in town, known among hikers as the 'vortex', since there were several hikers I have met who have taken more than 15 zero days already.See you on down the Trail