On Saturday, it was time for a return trip to what can be called a festival of everything about the most famous long trail
Appalachian Trail Days in Damascus. While this was the 31st annual gathering, it was my second trip to Trail Days, as I attended
last year. Quickly, Appalachian Trail Days is a three-day celebration of the
Appalachian Trail (AT) with all kinds of both with things for sale, music, food and plenty of "hiker trash." One of the centerpieces of the weekend is the Hiker Parade. It is what it sounds like a parade with plenty of thru-hikers plus water guns. If you love the trail this is the place to be in May.
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| Kathryn & Kelly lead last year's ATC Hike |
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| Vendor's row... |
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| ...some pictures from last year's... |
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| ...Hiker Parade. |
There were a couple of differences this year with the first being there was no
Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) led hike. The second was the weather...unlike last year, where it was comfortable, this year was hot, I mean Satan's Armpit hot! I think because of this it seems the crowd was a little smaller.
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| It was a hot Trail Town... |
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| ...this was greatly appreciated! |
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| A look at the vendor area. |
I did have fun at the dealer's booths where I re-upped with the ATC and I met
Jennifer Pharr Davis and got her to sign my book of her's,
Becoming Odyssa. I picked up her other book
Called Again and got a free pair of
Farm to Feet socks. Because of the heat at one point, I saw a lot of people in Beaver Dam Creek, so I went, took my shoes and socks off and dipped them in the water...nice!
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| Auction at the ATC booth... |
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| ...Jennifer Pharr Davis signing books at the Farm to Feet booth. |
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| It was so hot I couldn't resist... |
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| ...dunking my feet... |
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| ...I also had a nice view of the bridge too. |
The main event of the day was the Hiker Parade. It was supposed to start at two but was delayed, just long enough for it to start raining, first lightly. However, by the peak of the parade, it started raining hard. It was funny watching people trying to spray each other with water guns in a rain storm!
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| Everyone is ready for the Hiker Parade... |
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| ...this year the Backpacker SUV had a tent on it... |
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| ...the main event, "Hiker Trash"... |
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| ...while there were water guns... |
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| ...nothing compared to Mother Nature's Mega-Soaker! |
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| Boy, it did open up! |
While nothing beats the first time it was still fun to be in Damascus for AT Trail Days.
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