Trail Days 2009

I had a wonderful reunion with lots of Appalachian Trail friends last weekend in Damascus. It sure did me good to reunite with Rethinker, Pineknot, Tree, Moonpie, SuperChunk, Segue, Floyd, Mr.Burns, Creek Diver, Sampson, Butters, Shuffles, Stomp, The Tennessee Twins, OrangeDust, Bones, and TroutBum from my 2008 hike.

The stories were better than ever, the memories flowed in great torrents, it was just like I was still on the trail (without the soreness and hunger).

There is nothing sweeter than trail friends, I love each and everyone of them like a brother or a sister!!

I'll leave you with a video I shot while inside the maelstrom of the Hiker's Parade, where the spectators attack the hikers with various water weapons........it was a blast!!!

Trail Days

This coming weekend I will attend Trail Days in Damascus, Virginia. It's the big hiker bash and reunion get-together for Appalachian Trail hikers, past, present, current, and future.

The masses of unwashed pedestrians will descend on this sleepy little trail town like a biblical plague of locusts. There will be lots of activities: a hiker parade, free meals provided by local churches, gear demos, talks, eating contests, dog shows, book-signings, and so on...

The big thing for me will be a chance to reunite with so many great friends who I had the pleasure of meeting on the trail last year. Here's hoping that that they ALL attend!

Southbounders on Springer Mountain

SOBOs on Springer: (top) Bookworm, One Gallon, Default, Beef, D-wreck, EKG, Flamebo; (bottom) Mountain Goat, Timber, Bearwalker [photo courtesy of Bookworm]

Congratulations to all the SOBOS (southbounders) who finished the 2176 mile Appalachian Trail hike this season from Mt. Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia.

This year a group of four girls (known collectively as the Vermont Mafia) made the journey, together. They maintained a blog about their hike, read about it here: http://5millionsteps.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/we-did-it/