Date: 2003-05-22
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Hello from 2/3. In a little over two weeks we will leave our comfortable cabin midway between Damascus VA and Mountain City TN and head back to the trail. I had returned to Florida to get 1/3's car, thinking I would find a place to stay for the duration of the summer, but 3/3 and I decided to hike the "pretty parts" of the AT in every state up to Maine. We'll start by hiking all of the Shenendoah National Park, which is about 100 miles. Our brother-in-law has graciously offered to keep our car and this will free us up as we head north. To prepare for a return to the trail and ensure I'm ready to do this, we have been doing some day hikes around the area. We walked 5 miles on the Virginia Creeper Trail one afternoon, then walked 6 miles through the Grayson Highlands last week. That's one of my favorite places and we were lucky to see around 30 wild ponies along the trail. Two days ago, we were shuttled to White Top Mountain and walked the Virginia Creeper Trail back to Damascus for a walk of 18 1/2 miles that day. The walk is level so it wasn't a strain on my lungs, but gave my legs a good workout. Tomorrow, we're driving to the Partnership Shelter and will hike around 30 miles and tent camp a couple of days. It should test my stamina on the ascents with a backpack on again.Last Thursday (5/17), 1/3 and Litewalker returned to Damascus for Traildays.About thirty thousand people, mostly hikers and former hikers, were there. We were happy to see our friend, Sheltowee, and his fiance' Waterfall. He has just published a book called AMERICA ONE STEP AT A TIME about his transcontinental hike. We have read his book and found it to be both enjoyable and inspirational. He was a featured speaker at Traildays and we really enjoyed his presentation and pictures. We also saw an old friend, Jo Jo Smiley, who gave a presentation on her hike of the Eastern Continental Trail. Nimblewill Nomad, who wrote TEN MILLION STEPS, gave a very inspirational talk about why people hike. He's the kind of speaker who leaves you with chill bumps. One of the highlights of Traildays is the hiker parade. Current and former hikers march through the streets of Damascus, along with local law enforcement, the fire department, horse brigade and other floats. One tradition is to shoot water pistols at the hikers and 3/3 and I were ready! The only thing is that the hikers also have water pistols and water balloons to throw back at you, so we were soaked by the time the parade was over! We got 1/3 pretty good, but she ran out of the parade long enough to give us both a big hug. She's doing great on the trail and her enthusiasm remains high. On Sunday evening, we took 1/3 and Litewalker to the Partnership Shelter to resume their hike from the place they left the trail to come to Damascus. It was so much fun to spend some time with her and we were sad to leave her, but know we'll catch up with each other somewhere along the way.We sent some photos for our friends to scan, so they should be showing up soon. We'll make another entry to let you know how our weekend hike worked out and to let you know the pictures are on the website. Thanks for hanging in there with us. Happy Hiking 2/3