Trail Days! Ever since I heard of it early in my hike, I wanted to go. I had hoped to be able to hike all the way to Damascus, but that didn’t happen. I was just too slow. My hike stopped at Big Bald Mountain (mile 325) and Damascus is at least another 150 miles.
Due to a generous offer made by the Monroes, I stayed at their mountain house in Wolf Laurel for a night and then took their truck to Erwin, TN. In Erwin, I met up with a woman hiker who had asked to join me. We both stayed at a hotel in Erwin and the next morning, May 12, we headed for Damascus. We picked up a couple of other hikers on the way and arrived late morning in Damascus.
So, what is Trail Days? As it was described to me, it is a big three day hiker party. But here is what the mayor of Damascus says of the 30th annual Trail Days festival. “Trail Days is the largest organized backpacking event in the world, celebrating the AT and its heritage with good food, fellowship, and activities for everyone. Many events are family oriented such as movies, outdoor activities, presentations, hiking seminars, slide-show programs, and concerts.” This year’s Trail Days ran from May 13 through May 15.
I was lucky to get a room at the Woodchuck Hostel. They had a cancellation and I slipped in and scored two beds. DJ Wigley joined me at the hostel. DJ and I had hiked together earlier in my hike, and it was good to see her again. She is a much faster hiker and had hiked into the Damascus area for the party.
As you can tell from the picture at the top of this post, I arrived in town the day before things got started (May 12). The exhibitors were busy setting up the booths. There were already a lot of hikers in town and many more were expected. DJ wanted to do some slackpacking, so I drove her to a trailhead and then went back into town. The Monroe’s truck was easily parked at the festival grounds. Since the large majority of the festival participants were on foot, there were plenty of places to park.
On May 13th, the festival officially started. There were a lot of booths to visit. I particularly wanted to stop at the Osprey Backpack booth to talk to the people there about my Osprey Atmos 65 liter backpack. The belt was digging into my hip, and it was very painful. The customer support people in the booth didn’t have a solution for me, and I let it go. I decided to give serious consideration to buying another backpack if I continued to hike.
DJ and I hung out in the evenings. We visited one of the ministry tents for free coffee, tea and sweets. It’s amazing how much everyone gives away to hikers. A hiker could attend the three days and probably not spend more than $50 the entire time. One evening for dinner, we had free barbecue and another night we had a free spaghetti dinner at the firehouse along with just about every other hiker in town.
The favorite bar hangout seemed to be Bobo McFarland’s. I had dinner there one day and it was pretty good; although the service was slow. There were so many hikers there that the bar couldn’t keep up with the crowd.
The festival also had a lot of entertainment. Most of it was music that did not particularly interest me, but I did stop one day to listen to a band.
The highlight of Trail Days is the “Hiker Parade.” It’s a pretty big production. The hikers gathered in front of Sundog Outfitter at 1:30 PM on Saturday, May 14. The groups were assembled by the year of their hike. I, of course, was in the 2016 group. There were a lot of groups and a lot of hikers.
The parade got started about 2:00 PM. One of quirks about this parade is the water fight between hikers and parade watchers. I couldn’t find out how this tradition started, but I planned on not getting wet. I have my foul weather gear on for the parade.
The parade was a lot of fun. The whole Trail Days Festival was a lot of fun. I’m glad I went because it is unlikely I will ever have the opportunity to go to another.
Sunday DJ and I had to clear out of the Woodchuck Hostel. I left on what was a somewhat cool and cloudy day. DJ was heading back to the trail, but I was going home. The plan was to drive the Monroe’s pickup truck to Florida and return it to them there. The long drive gave me plenty of time to reflect on my 325 mile Appalachian Trail hike and all the fun I had at Trail Days. What a great time!
The 2016 Trail Days Festival Schedule is contained in the above six page document.
