Damascus, VA and Trail Days

Brandon as he entered Damascus, VA on 5/12

I just returned from Damascus, VA. The friendliest town on the Appalachian Trail. Our hiker arrived there on Thursday before the madness of Trail Days had truly set in. Thousands every year attempt to hike the AT; most of them making it to Damascus, VA. The past twenty five years there has been a thru-hiker festival held in Damascus known as Trail Days. It engulfs the otherwise small, quiet mountain town. At the 464 mile mark of the trail, it sits just under a quarter of the way complete. Trail Days has vendors such as Osprey and Leki who make backpacking gear along with tons of others, inlcluding past hikers selling books that they have written about their experience of the trail, and Long Distance hiking clubs to name a few. The hundreds upon hundreds of hikers spend their nights in Tent City. A giant, Woodstockesque setting of tents and giant campfires accompanied by some party animals and small bands playing music. It is absolutely something to behold.

My dad, Jim McKay, and I arrived in Damascus late Friday night to pick up Brandon and take him to a cabin we had rented for the weekend just a few miles out of town and away from the madness. With AT&T service lacking heavily in the area, we had arranged a general area where we would pick him up, but with so many people around we were not sure exactly how we would find him. After making one pass of the town block where we thought he might be, we were unable to locate him. Then, we went by for a second pass to find a bum-like figure sitting on the corner of the sidewalk. The glow of an iphone screen lit up the face of Brandon as he simultaneously recognized me hanging out of the window of the passenger side of the car. Brandon was borrowing some free wifi to try and communicate with the outside world.

He was in good spirits and happy to see us. We drove him by tent city to grab his things and we made our way to our cabin for the weekend. He filled us in on the wet past few days he had. With somewhat good success of dodging major storms on his trip thus far, earlier this week his luck ran a bit short. Camping at Vandeventer Shelter on Tuesday night, a dangerous storm rolled in from the North. The shelter, which sits right on a ridge overlooking Tennessee, has very little room for tents and with everyone trying to make it to Damascus for Trail Days it was very crowded. A shelter that typically sleeps about 6-8 people held about 15-20 that night as Brandon snagged the last spot in the shelter that night. An unfortunate characteristic of this shelter is that its orientation to the elements was poorly executed. The open side of the 3 sided structure faced the north, the direction the storm was coming from. According to Brandon the wind was blowing rain straight into the shelter all night. Even with a wall constructed of thru-hikers sleeping pads, the rain still reached the far wall of the shelter. The violent storm even blew down trees that landed between a few tents. Everyone was very fortunate to have no big injuries to their bodies or their gear.

Vandeventer Shelter: Photo From User SmokyMtn Hiker on Whiteblaze.net

Needless to say, Brandon was happy to get out the bad weather and the chaotic tent city. Saturday, we walked amongst the vendors of Trail Days and watched the thru-hiker parade where all the classes of thru-hikers old and current walk down main street whilst a bombardment of water balloons and super soakers are being thrown/sprayed at anyone and everyone. Having been a past thru-hiker, I thoroughly enjoyed the festivities. Because I started my hike in mid-May, I started after Trail Days had already happened and had not made it to Damascus to check it out until this weekend. We made sure Brandon was getting plenty of good food and anything else he might have needed.

I noticed this past week while emailing with Brandon to see where we were going to meet up in Damascus that he wrote El Perro Noche where someone would normally type their name at the end of an email. I curiously brought up the issue of not having a trail name yet shortly after we met him Friday night. When I met him in, GA a few weeks ago; he was telling me about how the little stuffed Dalmatian puppy he had been carrying, given to him by his sister, was making a good pillow on the chilly nights where he was wearing all of his clothes. Immediately I chuckled and chimed in, "Pillow Pup". Waterbug (Kevin) and Russ (now, Special Delivery) erupted in laughter, claiming that had to be Brandon's Trail Name. Brandon immediately refused to answer to that somewhat embarrassing name. Since that night in Hiawassee, Brandon has struggled to gain a different trail name. After talking with another hiker who heard the story about "pillow pup"; he suggested the name Night Dog. A much more masculine take on the name. Brandon was sold on that either though, thinking people would assume he was some kind of Harley Davidson Bike rider. Then, Brandon added a little hispanic twist to night dog, and so it was. Brandon is now, El Perro Noche; Perro or El Perro for short. Well done El Perro Noche.

It was an on and off rainy weekend with a big thunderstorm Saturday night. Thankfully, we were under the safety of the tin roof of our cabin as we fell asleep to that relaxing sound. After a big breakfast this morning, and one more shower, we finally got El Perro back to the trail right before lunch time. I'm very proud of El Perro, as everyone should be. He has faced some tough weather during this crazy Southeast Spring. Perro is now in his fourth state of the trail; and will be for a while, because Virginia is about 525 miles long, taking him near the unofficial halfway point in Haper's Ferry, WV. Virginia offers a much larger amount of good views and overall better trail conditions. He's looking forward to the bittersweet town of Daleville, VA where he plans to take advantage of the last Bojangles' he will have access to while on the trail. Before that he will have a beautiful stretch in the Grayson Highlands area of Southern Virginia (home to a large population of wild horses), breathtaking Mcafee Knob, Tinker Cliffs, and the challenging Dragons Tooth. With a hard hike ahead of him over the next couple of days, climbing up to Mt. Rogers, El Perro Noche ascended from the road leaving Damascus and into the woods right about lunch time today.