Damascus, VA. State #4

We are in Damascus, VA...again. We left the trail Friday before last at hwy 19E and hitched north to Damascus to attend Trail Days, the biggest hiker festival of the summer. The AT runs right through Damascus, a very small town. It is one of only a handful of towns that the trail runs directly through. It is very "hiker friendly", and Trail Days is their big event. There are vendors, music, industry reps, affiliated organizations and loads of hikers. They have a parade where the entire town arms themselves to the teeth with squirt guns and water balloons and lets loose on the marchers. "Miss Trail Days" was a young girl in a nice dress, riding on the back of a brand new covertible down Main St. She was trying to wave, but was busy ducking balloons and dodging streams of water, her makeup running down her face. The picture I posted of the beginning of the parade shows nothing of the chaos that ensued. And speaking of chaos, "Tent City" after dark is a party in the woods (just out of town behind the baseball fields) like I've not seen. People come from up and down the east coast. Some are people who have thru-hiked in the past, others are section hikers who enjoy getting out, some come for the party and talk about hiking, and then there is the minority "us", the people spending this whole season walking together on this path. Needless to say, we had a blast! We found a ride back to where we left the trail, and after a night in a lovely hostel with the most amazing breakfast ever, we got back on. It has been a lovely section of trail, with not as much steep up and down. The forecast is for more ridge-top cruising! It feels like summer now, the bugs are out and biting. We saw a bear last night just before dark and two (well, I saw two) the day before! They all ran. We like that. We came past a shelter the other day where the ground was littered with flakes of flint, not like the other rock around; evidence of stone tool making. On the path down to a spring from the shelter I found an arrowhead in the middle of the trail! No doubt this particular level spot along a ridge, with water nearby, has made an excellent campsite for eons. It was the heart of the Cherokee nation not long ago. We have been meeting lots of cool folks too! We stayed a night at Kincora, a hostel run for 16 years by a guy named Bob Peoples. He charges a suggested donation of $5 per person. He reluctantly upped it to that this year from $4, due to rising gas prices. Bob is a "trail angel" and his reputation precedes him. He organizes volunteers and oversees the largest trail building projects on the AT. Word is that he and Chuck Norris are friends, but Chuck doesn't like to spar with him. In March he hosted the 19,000th hiker to stay at his place. We will walk today, some more. Don't know just where we will be or what we will see. That is what it's all about!