Date: 2015-05-18
From: Damascus, VA

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 0.0

1914.4 miles to go.Wellllllllllllllllll, it's been a heck of a weekend. I knew Trail Days was going to be crazy, but I was still surprised a couple of times at the heights of dizzy craziness that were achieved.We arrived and set up in "tent city", which consisted of a few open fields on the edge of the woods just outside of town. In total it probably stretched almost a half mile long, and people were probably scattered up to a half mile inside the woods. Just in the field that my current trail bubble camped in, there were probably about 300 people, and I'm guessing between 1500-2000 people ended up camping in tent city. It was so large that there were 'suburbs,' with names like Billville, Camp Trash, and Riff Raff. I hung my hammock maybe 50 yards behind my companions, a little inside the woods.Friday was mostly warm-up and anticipation. There was a carnival-like atmosphere in the air, and I spent several hours shopping and talking in the half-mile of vendor tents set up on the green in 'downtown' Damascus. I ended up buying a new underquilt and tarp from Jacks R Better, each of which will save me about a pound in my pack, and Hammock Gear is going to let me order a custom made top quilt for their Trail Days price (everything was on sale). All of that, combined with the new backpack I bought at the outfitter in Hot Springs, will take me down close to a 15 pound base weight.On Saturday they had the annual hiker parade. I was surprised at the number of people from previous years who marched in the parade; each year group had a sign designating which year they hiked the trail and there were large groups for pretty much every year going as far back as '94! The locals really get in on the action - there were fire trucks and a police escort, and the locals lined the streets, cheering and clapping and hosing the hikers down with water guns, garden hoses, and even dumping buckets of water on us as we passed by!Every night they had a huge bonfire in a rock ring, probably 12' across, and a drum circle that continued all night long. Various people seamlessly slipped in and joined the beat, which was continuously evolving in tempo and provided a kind of constant, primal, throbbing atmosphere for the revelry each evening - you could hear the drums and voices all the way across tent city.Saturday evening was the hiker prom. A lot of hikers skipped it because there was a $5 cover charge, but I wanted to experience everything. A lot of hikers had picked up 'something special' to wear for the occasion: a hat, or a jacket, or some other article(s) gotten cheaply from Walmart or the local thrift store. Quite a few of the women were wearing dresses, and so were quite a few of the guys! I had haggled down a vendor earlier that day and picked up a blue tie-dyed button up shirt, with a collar even - I figured that was dressy enough for hiker couture. The prom was fun, but it really wasn't what it could have been. There was a band that played decently, but they were playing music that was better for listening than for dancing - not that it stopped some of the hikers from dancing anyways! After the prom king and queen (who was a guy in a dress) were crowned, the band knocked off and they put on somebody's iPod with some decent dance music so the dance floor got considerably more crowded. I grabbed Wrangler and we danced for a while, apparently Katy Perry is her "spirit animal." Afterwards we took some prom pictures and headed for the bonfire, where we ended up dancing around the bonfire with the crowd there - hey, it was the last night, and I was having a blast!Sunday was really a recovery day. We all slept in, then packed up and headed out. About a half hour out of Damascus, we stopped at a Golden Corral. While we were there, we saw at least two other hiker groups as well ... I think they're going to lose money this quarter. We got back to Hot Springs, found a place that had enough rooms for 10 of us to pile into, and did the usual rush of showers; laundry; food; and gear dump.I finally accepted a trail name that a friend suggested: Pan, Greek god of nature and the wild, companion of nymphs, rejector of society, and chief debaucher. I could do worse for a trail name, right? There was a guy carving and selling hiking sticks, so I asked him to carve my new name into my hiking stick, and he wouldn't even accept any money for it! I love the laissez faire hiker culture!