On the Road to Damscus

Being a Biblically named town, there are a lot of states with a city called Damascus but the one I am going to be talking about is in Damascus, Virginia. It's own website describes it as "Trail Town, USA."  That's because of its prominent position along the Appalachian Trail:  it is near the Tennessee/Virginia border which means that it marks either the first (or last) 1/4 section of your entire AT experience.   If you're a NOBO (northbounder), you're conditioned for the trail and an experienced backpacker.  If you're a SOBO (southbounder), it's time to start thinking about the end of your journey and all that brings.  Although the AT passes through 14 states (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, WV, VA, NC, TN, GA), Virginia is by far the longest stretch, just about 500 miles.


Aside from its prominent position along the trail, Damascus is a "Trail Town" for a couple of other reasons.  One is all the support it gives to hikers along the AT, boasting a townful of hostels, bed & breakfasts, trail outfitters and, the hiker's lifeline, a post office (with a hiker registration desk.)  The other is The Virgina Creeper Trail which starts in Damascus and runs to Abingdon, VA, 35 miles away.  It's not named after some weird old guy from Virginia though, it's named after a vine very common to the area, the Virigina Creeper:


Virginia Creeper, creeping up a tree

The trail is an old railway which has been converted to a biking trail that runs along the Holston river.  This is a fairly common thing to do with rail lines that have fallen into disuse and is referred to as a "Rails-to-Trails" sort of project.  The trail is full of trestles and bridges and runs through some gorgeous countryside.  Keep in mind it's peak fall color right now.  The Va. Creeper trail is the reason there are so many bicycle rentals in Damascus.  Despite the creeper trail's obvious charm though, it's the AT that put Damascus on the map.  Every year in May, Damascus has "Trail Days", a week long celebration of the trail and the people who hike it.


A potential through hiker enjoys the Trail Days celebration.

Our SOBO son Dennis has reached his 3/4 done mark and we decided we'd meet him in Damascus with a resupply and visit to cheer him on.  The last time we saw him was about a month ago when he came through Harpers Ferry, the halfway point on the trail.  His oldest brother joined him for two days in MD and they did the entire state (~35 miles) in that time.  He had a hiking buddy then and they both took some time off the trail after the first 1,000 miles.  Three days after they restarted, his hiking buddy decided to leave the trail.  Dennis picked up a new hiking buddy for another month but with the cold weather settling in, he decided to set out alone at a ferocious pace.  Since that time, he's done at least a couple of marathon days (>26 miles) and hopes to finish before Thanksgiving.  Barring any injuries, it looks like he's going to make it.

My Darling Wife and I were really looking forward to seeing Dennis again and it was only a 6 hour drive down US I-81 to Damascus.  Plus it was fairly close to Dante, Va, the coal mining town where her Dad has spent his childhood, a place I'd never seen.  We brought with us a huge supply of backpacker chow, some winter clothing, an MP3 player and a laptop.  The MP3 player was for the trail and it was loaded full of talks and music.  I know some people really like to listen to audiobooks while they're hiking.  The laptop was for the one night we'd be staying with him at a hotel so he could play League of Legends over the internet with all his friends back home. He was very focused on that and as soon as he got to the hotel room and had repacked his backpack to accommodate the resupply, he stayed up almost all night playing on the laptop.

One of the nice things about the trail is you can keep whatever hours you want.  Dennis barely made the breakfast bar which closed a 9 a.m.  After checking out of the hotel late, we visited the nearby town of Dante, Va.  The house where my father inlaw grew up was in a sad state of disrepair.  No one had lived there for about 50 years though so it wasn't unexpected.  The whole town was built on the side of a mountain, anywhere there was purchase enough to build.  There is a coal miner's museum and memorial in town.  Almost 100% of the election signs we saw along the way were strongly anti-Obama because of his enmity to coal mining.  It was pretty cool.

When we got back to town, we stopped for a pizza and movie and headed out to Tennesse to drop Dennis off at the trailhead.  I had to get the trailhead GPS co-ordinates off of Google Earth and type them into the car GPS since it was just a wide spot on the road where the AT crosses.  The final approach was 11 miles of mountain road switchbacks but the trail crossing was marked and we waved goodbye in the dark as Dennis took off for a nearby shelter.  He probably needed to get to bed early anyway after staying up all night playing League of Legends!