Date: 2009-05-17
From: Leaving Bears Den Hostel

To: Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0

Trail Days: Over the river and through the woods... I was worried that I wouldn't have a good time and not know anyone, but it has been great! It's been awesome and I have made tons of friends. The only person I have seen that I know from he trail is Eric "Not so Swift" who I haven't seen since Neels. Apparently the hiker custom of befriending anyone who is walking the same direction as you still applies when there are like a million hikers.I'm going to try and go in order and record everything so I don't forget, but I might jump around a little. It's hard to remember it all. After we arrived we set up in Camp Cougar Melloncamp in tent city and then went to the pizza place. I love pizza. Then I went to take care of some things at the outfitters. I got my maildrop, new boots, and a patch for my sleeping bag. I wore the boots all weekend to break them in. I wore the boots all weekend to break them in. Baltimore Jack was working there. I carried my crap back to tent city and put it under my tarp. Decided to walk back in town and I met Zultan, Texas Chill, Rachel something and CCC. Went with them to free food where I met up with Padre and Anna again. I think we went back to camp after that and made a fire. It started raining right after I got under my tarp. I was really worried that I was going to get wet but me and my stuff stayed dry. Woke up at 7ish and had a nice breakfast of chips and hot sauce. Went to town for Aquamira and headphones and then went back to the Rock School Auditorium for food. Saw some people I knew and met some more, including Mud, Gitty up, and Sneaks, who I chilled with a lot. Also saw Erik 'Not so Swift'. After that I went back to the campground and picked up my Leki poles and talked to Granite Gear, who ended up giving me a free pack. My old pack was too big for me so they swapped it out for free!! So now I have a nice brand new well fitting pack. And fixed poles.. I hung out with Mud for a while and then we went to play kickball. There were 10-15 hikers on each team. I dominated that game. We ended up tying though. Itw as a lot of fun and every said I was the MVP. I miss sports sometimes. After the game I went with Mud and his crew to see Lion King's new movie. Later I went for pizza with Anna and Padre which took forever and then we went and got free food and I met more new people. Had fun at Tent City that night. The next day I went tubing with Padre and Anna but it didn't turn out exactly as planned. Still had a good time though. After that little adventure I went into town for pizza and Texas Chill ended up joining me.   He seems really nice and I hope him and his crew catch me at some point. We went to (??) for the parade. A lot of people had really cool costumes. Mud was completely covered in mud and Gitty-up was basically just wearing bandanas but managed to pull it off and not look indecent. The parade was a lot of fun. I was glad I had a water gun. I hung and walked around until the talent show. I thought it might be lame but it turned out to be pretty cool. My favorite was a guy named A-hab who is hiking this year. He was doing beat boxing which sounded like it would be dumb, but he was amazing. He ended up winning. There were a bunch of cool acts. After that I went back to tent city and then to Subway with Anna and Padre. That night wasn't as cool as the night before. I hung out with Mud's crew for a while. I feel bad because I left them and said I'd see them at Riff-raffs but ended up leaving Damascus without saying bye. I was going to go to one of the fires but it started raining. Didn't really stay dry. Don't think I was as covered as before.