Date: 2013-05-18
From: Sinking Creek / Trail Days in Damascus

To: Trail Days, Damascus 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Sadly, Trail Days ended in tragedy. We were all hiking in the parade when someone lost control of their car and ran into the hikers. Word of mouth says about 4 or 5 hikers were hit with one woman pinned under the car. A group of hikers lifted the car off her. I wish I could tell you who was injured but I don't know. I saw 4 ambulances leave with more on the scene and life flight flew in. This was in some ways a typical small town parade with the local police and ambulances as part of the parade. There was a queen riding in a convertible and kids riding on trailers pulled by trucks. The whole town turns out for the parade. What's different about this parade are the thousands of current and former AT hikers who participate in the parade. It had become a tradition for the locals to squirt the stinky "hiker trash" using squirt guns, hoses, etc. The hikers arm themselves with squirt guns and water battles occur along the parade route. It was funny to watch the town people, young and old, laughing and playfully dousing us hikers. The parade started at Sundog Outfitter, went past Crazy Larry's and turned down the main street. I had just crossed a bridge over a river when I heard a commotion behind me. I really couldn't tell what was happening because there was a wall people between me and the accident. The police cars and ambulances that were at the front of the parade came screaming back up the street. The news medias are reporting 50 to 60 people injured but I can't confirm or refute that. The press release that the city released said that 5 people were transported by ambulance and 3 people were transported by medivac. We all cleared out of the street to make room for the emergency vehicles. The whole town was stunned as word spread and we quietly milled around on the sidewalks. It was very somber and people were holding their squirt guns at their sides as they watched the emergency vehicles and helicopters arriving. I saw at least 3 ambulances from other counties. I had signed up for several drawings for prizes from various vendors and you had to be present to win. The events had totally taken the wind out of my sails and I could have cared less if I won anything so I didn't even go back to the vendors. Today's picture is of a local cop who good naturedly let the hikers squirt him. I'm sure this small of a town rarely sees an accident like this and I salute this officer, his colleagues, the EMT's, and the many hikers and town people who came to the aid of the injured hikers. Not only did the officers have to respond to the accident, but they also had to manage the chaos of having thousands of people in the street. I have posted all the pictures of the parade in case any family members or friends are looking for someone. Normally I should have been in the back of the parade - exactly where the accident happened. The way it's supposed to work is that the previous thru hikers are in the front and the current thru hikers are last. It was disorganized as we were lining up and for some reason the group that I was with decided to work their way up so I went with them. We started in the back but were in the middle by the time the accident happened. Some of the people I was with and know are OK are Barbarossa, Lady, and Bomber. There were others who's names I can't remember. I know that North Star and Peanut decided not to participate in the parade because they were tired of being wet. If my memory serves me correctly the hikers of 2003 ended up being at the back. I was glad when I ran into Joe, a friend who I met yesterday. He let me use his phone to call Anita who was trying to drive into town to meet me. When I heard her voice I got tearful and couldn't talk much. All roads into the town were blocked and traffic was backed up for 2 miles. I decided to walk up the line of traffic to find her and Joe walked with me. Thanks for keeping me company Joe! On the way out of town I saw Lady again and we gave each other a big hug. I had promised to give my new Austrian friends (Hakuna Matata and Stinky Feet) a ride back to Pearisburg so they can get back on the trail. We had planned to meet at the Dollar General store in the middle of town. By the time we found Anita the traffic had started moving slowly and when we got close I walked the rest of the way to meet them. The drive to Pearisburg lifted my spirits since I was with Anita and we enjoyed our conversation with the Austrians. When we got to Pearisburg we stopped at Pizza Hut and had dinner. We exchanged contact information and they made us promise we would visit them in Austria. As we drove the final leg of our trip we talked over the last 24 hours of our lives. Anita had worked late the night before as two trains collided and they implemented their disaster plan. Wow, enough is enough.