Date: 2018-05-19
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, Va
Miles today: 0.0

Day 2 of Trail Days. Started off right with a $5 all you can eat pancake breakfast. Ended up eating 6 of them loaded with butter and syrup plus a few cups of coffee. Great way to start the day. There were a lot of events planned for the day so I left the Tent City after breakfast to check out the shoes from all the visiting gear companies and also at the two outfitters in town. My feet have been swelling so I was wondering if it was time to buy a new pair but didn¢t get anything yet. I was actually disappointed in the selection from the outfitters. One carried all Altras which are a type of trail running shoe and the other carried only Oboz, more of a hiking shoe. I liked the Oboz because they¢re most like my North Face Ultras. But there are a lot more shoes out there that I wish I got to try. My plan is to try the Oboz on again when I pass through town next week to see how they feel again. Shoes are so important I need to make the right decision if I get new ones. Next on my list was picking up a bit of resupply food for my trip from Roan Mountain to Hampton from Sunday to Monday. I already had some left over food so only needed a few things. After resupplying I relaxed by having my feet washed and massaged by the members of the Baptist Church in town. Really amazing that they do that. The Baptist Church is very active in the hiking community up and down the trail. They¢ll even be giving rides back to the trail for hikers on Sunday and Monday. Soon after my massage it was time for the parade! It¢s a short parade consisting of different alumni of the trail. Starting from the oldest and ending with the current class of 2018 hikers who are currently on the thru hiking. Everyone walks down Laurel Ave, the main street going through the center of downtown. There aren¢t any floats for this parade, just hikers. The fun part though... all the locals of the town line up on the sidewalks with super soakers, buckets of water, and their yard hoses and spray down all the hikers. Just lots fun, everyone having a good time. It¢s easy to see where this tradition starting considering how smelly and dirty us hikers are. In addition to the parade are a lot more raffles, live music, and talent show! Oh yeah..and hiker prom. It wasn¢t much of an actual prom but actually a bunch of guys buying and wearing dresses from the local thrift store. A strange tradition but it makes for a good laugh.Trail Days keeps us hikers well fed too. One Way Ministries just outside of the Tent City has snack food all day long. They even put out a tub of vanilla ice cream at one point. In addition to the snack food, One Way was giving out free hair cuts. I declined. I think I¢m going to go for a really wild look for my Katahdin victory photo. Unkempt hair and a long beard sounds good. Inside the Tent City there were burgers being cooked in the late afternoon. I ate 4. I also had a pulled pork sandwich. The hunger doesn¢t go away. The rest of the evening was much like the night before with muddy hikers and bonfires. But my mind was elsewhere. Hiking. I¢m on day 36 and two days off is great especially to bring down the swelling in my feet but gosh I really want to go hiking tomorrow. The shuttle bus that brought us up from Mountain Harbor Hostel will be coming back to pick us up.The picture for this day (which I will post when I have better service) is of the beginning of the parade. I jumped in once it got to the 2018 crowd.