Saturday, May 28, 2011
Leaving Damascus on the VCT
We decided to take a detour on the way out of Damascus and ended up hiking 12mi of the Virginia Creeper Trail. The AT merges with the VCT for .5mi out of Damascus then rejoins again approx 11mi north. It's an old railroad bed that follows an amazing river. The elevation gain was very graduL and made for an easy day of hiking. We had a good group of folks to hike with and had a blast!
Trail Days is a HUGE milestone on the first leg of a thru-hike. Unfortunately, no that it's over we're all a little lost. We've been working towards Damascus since we started and now that milestone is behind us. The next BIG milestone will be the halfway point at Harpers Ferry, VA. That's a LONG ways away!
Trail Days 2011
Thomas and Jeff picked me up from the campground sometime around noon. The trail head was just up the road so we were on trail by mid-day Friday. It was great to have some friends from home on the trail with me and we had a blast! We hiked approx. 9mi on Friday and found a campsite for the night. Thomas and Jeff were pretty worn out so we pretty much just ate dinner, hung out for a bit, and headed to our tents for the night. It was a fairly easy 5mi hike into Damascus the next morning. The trail came out of the woods and into a residential area where the festival vendors tents were setup. It was a typical festival vibe with gear vendors and all sorts of folks selling their wares. Lots of people walking around having a good time. As a thru-hiker, I was a bit of a celebrity... I noticed several people snapping pictures as I walked by. I felt a little bit like a zoo animal on display :0)
It didn't take long to find my trail friends, who were all hanging out at the Pizza/Beer spot. We hung out for the afternoon and watched the hiker parade then walked around Damascus soaking in the sights. By the evening we had decided that the "party" vibe in Damascus was not what we were looking for. So, we drove back out to the campground at Shady Valley and got the cabin for another night. We had a good time around the campfire hangin with the biker guys.
The next morning I had to make the decision of where to rejoin my thru-hike. In order to meet Thomas and Jeff on time, I ended up skipping 7mi of trail. I could have just skipped it and started in Damascus but I decided to have the guys drop me off back up the highway so I could make up the section. One of the biker guys offered to pick me up after the 7mi section and shuttle me back to Damascus so i didnt have to re-hike the miles that i did with Thomas and Jeff... It worked out perfectly and I didn't have to skip any miles!
It was a great weekend!
Friday, May 13, 2011
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