(images from www.traildays.us)
May 13th was the 25 anniversary of the annual weekend hiker gathering in Damascus, Virginia. I had heard many good things about the event, but this would be my first opportunity to attend.
Several months before I started hiking the trail, I contacted the Town Clerk of Damascus and inquired about setting up a Hike 4 Heart booth during the event to raise money for the Children's Heart Foundation. After she told me that all of the non-profit spaces where already filled, she said that she would need to get back to me in a few days. Sure enough she called back with good news, and said it would be ok as long as I brought the things we would need for the booth. I gratefully thanked her for the opportunity and told her that we would see her there!
That Friday I arrived in Damascus and was met by several members of my friends and family. They had all volunteered their weekend to helping me with the Hike 4 Heart booth. Our main goal was to raise money through various ways for the Children's Heart Foundation. We sold a variety of delicious baked goods that my girlfriend, Pam, made. We raffled off a North Face backpack which was donated by the
Gear to Grow organization from Salt Lake City, Utah. We made Sun hats for kids out of brown paper, tape, and decorations. We also sold Hike 4 Heart Stickers and T-shirts.
Due to weather constraints our booth was only set up on Saturday but during those few hours we were able to raise over $320 for CHF.
Around 2 O'clock that afternoon I was called to the town's annual thru-hiker parade. This was more like a big water fight betweens the towns people and a large moving crowd of hikers in the street. I've been in several parades before, but this was by far the most fun!
a few of the locals
Photos by Katahmandu
Thank you to J.T. VonLunen and Gear to Grow for your donations to our booth and also the gear needed to hike this trail. Also thank you to everyone who came out and helped make the H4H booth successful!
That night we were invited to stay in an open field on some private property owned by a friend of my girlfriends. We enjoyed each others company and played music around the campsites grand Bon-fire. It was a great ending to a fantastic day!
The next morning we said our goodbyes and I continued hiking north with my friend Bo Pallard from my home town of Grayson Country; which happened to be exactly where we were headed.
Hiking out of Damascus the trail briefly follows the Creeper Trail, which is an old Railroad track turned into a bike riding trail. The Creeper trail which starts on White Top Mountain, provides a very relaxing bike ride down to Damascus. Since riders typically rent their bikes in Damascus and end their trip there, it has become a staple in the towns economy. Unfortunately the A.T. doesn't like for things to be easy. Instead the A.T. takes a much more mountainous approach to reaching White Top Mountain.
