View Full Version : Trail days 2015
Toolumpy
10-28-2015, 20:10
I would like to leave Damascus the middle of May 2016 my question is would I be better off to leave Damascus the week before or the week after Trail days in order to miss the crowd or will both weeks be crowded?
Best to leave in 2016.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
Slo-go'en
10-28-2015, 22:44
I'd leave a week before and get through the Highlands before the big TD bubble. With any luck you can stay ahead of them for a while too. Leave a week later and you'll start bumping into the tail end of the bubble before long.
Trail Ponderer
10-28-2015, 23:38
I believe both weeks will be crowded. I agree with Slo-go'en, leave before Trail Days. The area north of Damascus is one of the highlights of the trail and would be best enjoyed before the herd comes through the area.
I left Damascus two days before trail days started and was almost alone on the trail for two weeks before they started catching up. Lots of people hike past damascus then shuttle back for trail days- then shuttle back up. But the weekend and following week the event is going on was very quiet on the trail.
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rocketsocks
10-29-2015, 06:39
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JEilPR1PXko
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JEilPR1PXko
I believe both weeks will be crowded. I agree with Slo-go'en, leave before Trail Days. The area north of Damascus is one of the highlights of the trail and would be best enjoyed before the herd comes through the area.
as they will graze off all the best grass
I left Damascus two days before trail days started and was almost alone on the trail for two weeks before they started catching up. Lots of people hike past damascus then shuttle back for trail days- then shuttle back up. But the weekend and following week the event is going on was very quiet on the trail.
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I concur with this. I did the same this year the week before TD, and I saw only a handful of people on the trail.
JustaTouron
10-30-2015, 07:21
Are you a fast hiker or a slow hiker? If fast before, if slow after. Otherwise the laws of physics predicts a collision with the bubble.
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Slo-go'en
10-30-2015, 13:49
Two years ago I got on at Marion, VA the Sunday Trail Days was over. Marion is 4-5 days north of Damascus. I was able to stay ahead of most of the bubble all the way to Daleville where I got off.
Last year I went SOBO from Harpers Ferry and was in the Buena Vista area when Trail Days let out and ran into several large groups who got back on the trail around there. 20 or 30 would all get back on at the trail at the same place at the same time. It wasn't until I got to Daleville before it started to thin out again, but that's were I got off.
The difference was that hikers who get to Damascus a little early will just hang out there for the week rather then going on and having to back track a few days later. That empties the trail just north of Damascus for a while.
In 2010 I left Damascus on the Monday before TD. I ran into quite a few people hiking SOBO heading to TD in Mt Rogers area that were not thru hiking. Most were alumni. I started to run into them (alumni) south of Damascus at Uncle Johnny's as they were starting NOBO. The days before and the weekend of TD the trail was empty. Spent the only night of my thru hike alone at Trimpi Shelter on Wed before TD.
sorry for the slight derailment, but is it worth being there for trail days?
sorry for the slight derailment, but is it worth being there for trail days?
at 18 and if you like to laugh at what goes on instead of moaning about it then definitely, it is something you want to see
Toolumpy
11-01-2015, 08:08
Thanx for all the info, I do hike faster so the week before sounds good.
Heliotrope
11-01-2015, 12:43
I believe both weeks will be crowded. I agree with Slo-go'en, leave before Trail Days. The area north of Damascus is one of the highlights of the trail and would be best enjoyed before the herd comes through the area.
Sounds like a walking dead episode. [emoji3]
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