Date: 2011-05-10
From: Greasy Creek Hostel

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I will encompass the week into this one post so as to save time.As I said last time, I'm staying at the hostel till after trail days (May 17th will be my start again). That gives me a full week to rethink my hike and also experience what it's like to work at a hostel (because I regretted not doing it in Hot Springs).I helped with breakfast, mowed half the lawn, helped with shopping, put up signs at the trail crossing, cleaned the beds, vacuumed, swept, cleaned the bathroom, and generally just helped when the hikers or Connie needed anything. The perks were pretty awesome too. I got to stay indoors for a week, use a bathroom that had a toilet AND a shower, eat real food, watch tv (all 6 glorious channels), and most importantly play with the very cute dog.I may write more later on this, but for now this is just a record for me. I'd like to have the time to talk about the experience but I'm getting tired and there's too much to write.Trail Days was a great experience. We tried to leave at noon on Friday to get there but it was closer to 5 by the time we left. I got plenty of reading done in the car. We arrived at 6 and after I said hi to Connie's friends I headed out to find my own. It took me an hour of wandering around all the camp sites to find anyone. It was Earth, Caveman, Smokey, and Dirt Nap that I ran into first. They were with me the day I left Fontana Dam because of my ankle. It was great to see familiar faces from the first time I started hiking.I set up my tent in the middle of Tent City on the baseball field. The woods were covered in tent sites (mostly claimed by large groups of former hikers). Luckily, without realizing it, I setup right next to the guys I was hiking with before I stayed at the hostel. John Wayne, Trumpet, Fling, No Worries, and Yoga Boy had managed to hike into Damascus for the event (doing at least 20 miles a day for a week). I would have never wanted to keep up with them.The festival had venders, music, fires, drum circles, food, and hikers. I got a thermorest air mattress instead of the closed cell foam and switched to aquamira water drops instead of my water filter pump. I decided to go lightweight after my slack pack, but more on that later.One funny yet annoying story is about the drum circle saturday night. After some wine I decided to play in the drum circle on the other side of camp (as I had done the previous night). There were maybe 10 drummers, some fire spinners,a fire breather, and apparently some idiot that thought handfuls of glitter was a good idea. I liked everything but the last one. I didn't even realize said idiot was there until I woke up the next morning and looked around my tent to find gold glitter. I then saw it in my sleeping bag, on my pillow, and ultimately found it plastered to my face and hair. I should have had a picture of me emerging from my tent covered in mud (it rained all weekend) and sparkling. After finding 20 other guys that looked like me, I didn't feel as bad. Actually I went to the grocery store and chinese buffet looking just like that.Good memories from Trail Days. Glad I was there and able to meet some hikers from last year. They were very strong motivators for continuing my journey.