I've been hiking for a month and 10 days now and I've reached my first big resting place on the trail. Damascus, Virginia. What's special about Damascus is that between the 18th and 20th of May this is the place where Trail Days is celebrated. Trail Days is a festival made for hikers of the Appalachian Trail. All the hikers that are hiking it this year or have done it in past years come together to celebrate the great trail that nearly covers the entire eastcoast.
So there is all sorts of cool stuff going on at trail days. There was a lot of free stuff being given to hikers, eating competitions (I finished 3rd in the hotdog eating competition) and a hiker parade where all former and current hikers of the A.T. walk in a parade and get splashed with waterballoons and waterguns. It was a great weekend with a lot of fun activities. And I've also been seeing a lot of the guys I've been hiking with for the past month.
Unfortunately there was also some bad news when I got to trail days. It turned out Andreas had to quit the A.T. because of personal reasons back at home, I wish him the best of luck with what he is going through.
At trail days I met a belgium guy who lived there and saw me in the eating competition and remembered I was Dutch. He told me he hiked back in '92 and he has been living in Damascus ever since. I had also heard stories of two dutch brothers that where supposedly hiking the A.T. this year, well I met them that weekend! They are about the same age I am and they are a view days behind me, I think I will meet them on the trail soon enough.
The next big milestone will be Harpers Ferry which is the official halfway point of the A.T. I Think I will probably be able to get there before July.
More in the next blog....
Will upload more pics soon
So there is all sorts of cool stuff going on at trail days. There was a lot of free stuff being given to hikers, eating competitions (I finished 3rd in the hotdog eating competition) and a hiker parade where all former and current hikers of the A.T. walk in a parade and get splashed with waterballoons and waterguns. It was a great weekend with a lot of fun activities. And I've also been seeing a lot of the guys I've been hiking with for the past month.
Unfortunately there was also some bad news when I got to trail days. It turned out Andreas had to quit the A.T. because of personal reasons back at home, I wish him the best of luck with what he is going through.
At trail days I met a belgium guy who lived there and saw me in the eating competition and remembered I was Dutch. He told me he hiked back in '92 and he has been living in Damascus ever since. I had also heard stories of two dutch brothers that where supposedly hiking the A.T. this year, well I met them that weekend! They are about the same age I am and they are a view days behind me, I think I will meet them on the trail soon enough.
The next big milestone will be Harpers Ferry which is the official halfway point of the A.T. I Think I will probably be able to get there before July.
More in the next blog....
Will upload more pics soon
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| Me, not impressed by the competition at the hotdog eating contest |
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