View Full Version : Trail Days Info Please
OutdoorsMan
04-02-2008, 00:56
I have never been to Trail Days and am interested in going. Can you give me an idea as to what to expect? Will there be a place to tent camp? What about water, toilets, food?
Should I bring my credit card or cash?
Is there a schedule of events? is there an entrance fee?
Thanks,
Tom
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 01:08
Yeah, I wanted to go too this year. I finally cleared my schedule and was soooo looking forward to meet other hikers until I heard that they had cancelled it and are planning to try again next year, moving the whole thing to Monson.
I think having it there will be a good fit for the trail community and I'm definitely going to be there.
The last I heard is that Trail Days '09 will be held from Sept 2 thru 5 in Monson next year. Bummer that it was cancelled this year though. Oh well, c'est la vie.:(
Socrates
04-02-2008, 01:16
Yeah, I wanted to go too this year. I finally cleared my schedule and was soooo looking forward to meet other hikers until I heard that they had cancelled it and are planning to try again next year, moving the whole thing to Monson.
I think having it there will be a good fit for the trail community and I'm definitely going to be there.
The last I heard is that Trail Days '09 will be held from Sept 2 thru 5 in Monson next year. Bummer that it was cancelled this year though. Oh well, c'est la vie.:(
WTH? I'm in central time zone so it's not April Fools anymore... I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for some backup on that statement... I'm not going but whaaa?
Thru Hiker Wife
04-02-2008, 01:47
Yeah, I wanted to go too this year. I finally cleared my schedule and was soooo looking forward to meet other hikers until I heard that they had cancelled it and are planning to try again next year, moving the whole thing to Monson.
I think having it there will be a good fit for the trail community and I'm definitely going to be there.
The last I heard is that Trail Days '09 will be held from Sept 2 thru 5 in Monson next year. Bummer that it was cancelled this year though. Oh well, c'est la vie.:(
Bad, bad, bad...stop confusing the poor folks, wargy.
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 01:49
Bad, bad, bad...stop confusing the poor folks, wargy.
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/angelic004.gifhttp://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/angelic004.gifhttp://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/angelic006.gifhttp://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/angelic006.gif
Bad, bad, bad...stop confusing the poor folks, wargy.
It's not Warghy's fault. Woodsy put him up to it. We all know how naive and impressionable warghy is... :rolleyes:
Damn that Woodsy. :(
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 01:52
It's not Warghy's fault. Woodsy put him up to it. We all know how naive and impressionable warghy is... :rolleyes:
Damn that Woodsy. :(
EXACTLY!!!!!!
Thru Hiker Wife
04-02-2008, 01:53
Well, y'all should behave. This guy has only posted six times and genuinely needs answer. Don't make Dixi have to clean up after us again.:D
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 01:56
Well, y'all should behave. This guy has only posted six times and genuinely needs answer. Don't make Dixi have to clean up after us again.:D
Please send the bill to Woodsy. . . Please!!:rolleyes::D
Thru Hiker Wife
04-02-2008, 01:57
Please send the bill to Woodsy. . . Please!!:rolleyes::D
You are such a troublemaker!!!!!!!
Jaybird62
04-02-2008, 01:57
Please send the bill to Woodsy. . . Please!!:rolleyes::D
Oh.....just so it will get returned ey?
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 01:59
I have never been to Trail Days and am interested in going. Can you give me an idea as to what to expect? Will there be a place to tent camp? What about water, toilets, food?
Should I bring my credit card or cash?
Is there a schedule of events? is there an entrance fee?
Thanks,
Tom
What to expect- Pure fun
Tent/Camp - yes
Water, Toilets, Food - yes
Cash/Credit card - yes
Schedule - yes
Entrance fee - No
You're welcome
Well, y'all should behave. This guy has only posted six times and genuinely needs answer. Don't make Dixi have to clean up after us again.:D
Better? . . . . stinky pants?:p:D:banana
Thru Hiker Wife
04-02-2008, 02:01
Better? . . . . stinky pants?:p:D:banana
Much thank you very much. Just trying to keep us all out of trouble. Dixi told me she could be a real Nazi and I'm scared.:D:p
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 02:03
Much thank you very much. Just trying to keep us all out of trouble. Dixi told me she could be a real Nazi and I'm scared.:D:p
Really?? THW?? How did you find out Trail Days was cancelled this year. Poop!!! I was so looking forward to it.:mad:
Tennessee Viking
04-02-2008, 02:07
Yeah, I wanted to go too this year. I finally cleared my schedule and was soooo looking forward to meet other hikers until I heard that they had cancelled it and are planning to try again next year, moving the whole thing to Monson.
I think having it there will be a good fit for the trail community and I'm definitely going to be there.
The last I heard is that Trail Days '09 will be held from Sept 2 thru 5 in Monson next year. Bummer that it was cancelled this year though. Oh well, c'est la vie.:(LOL Funny...You are so funny
I have never been to Trail Days and am interested in going. Can you give me an idea as to what to expect? Will there be a place to tent camp? What about water, toilets, food?
Should I bring my credit card or cash?
Is there a schedule of events? is there an entrance fee?
Thanks,
Tom
The Trail Days website has moved to http://www.traildays.us/
I never officially been to Damascus during Trail Days. But its THE event for hikers. Lets just say the small town of Damascus gets invaded by horde of hikers.
Most of the thruhikers will be just hitting Damascus, while others will be coming back down for the event. A number of other hikers will be just driving in to attend the event.
It looks like thru hikers are allowed in the campground on Wednesday. Then drive ins will start Thursday. If you want to stay close to Damascus but avoid the crowds. Lodging can also be found in Bristol TN/VA and Abingdon VA. Also FS campgrounds at Backbone Rock and Bear Tree, or along the trail.
You definitely want to bring some cash for food, parking, and camping. Most of the events are free. You want to keep an eye on the free food events. There will be drawings/contests for gear, hiker parade, water ballon fight...
I will be working the Kincora Hardcore event. If you are interested in giving back to the hiking community and want to help by building trail, sign up for Hardcore. Ubber popular.
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 02:09
The Trail Days website has moved to http://www.traildays.us/
I never officially been to Damascus during Trail Days. But its THE event for hikers. Lets just say the small town of Damascus gets invaded by horde of hikers.
Most of the thruhikers will be just hitting Damascus, while others will be coming back down for the event. A number of other hikers will be just driving in to attend the event.
It looks like thru hikers are allowed in the campground on Wednesday. Then drive ins will start Thursday. If you want to stay close to Damascus but avoid the crowds. Lodging can also be found in Bristol TN/VA and Abingdon VA. Also FS campgrounds at Backbone Rock and Bear Tree, or along the trail.
You definitely want to bring some cash for food, parking, and camping. Most of the events are free. You want to keep an eye on the free food events. There will be drawings/contests for gear, hiker parade, water ballon fight...
I will be working the Kincora Hardcore event. If you are interested in giving back to the hiking community and want to help by building trail, sign up for Hardcore. Ubber popular.
From: THE ONION
Bear Bag
04-02-2008, 02:09
All the info is on the official web site.
link (http://www.traildays.us/)
I'm looking forward to it too. It will be my first time there.
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 02:10
All the info is on the official web site.
link (http://www.traildays.us/)
I'm looking forward to it too. It will be my first time there.
See you in Monson next year!!!!
Lone Wolf
04-02-2008, 03:44
I have never been to Trail Days and am interested in going. Can you give me an idea as to what to expect? Will there be a place to tent camp? What about water, toilets, food?
Should I bring my credit card or cash?
Is there a schedule of events? is there an entrance fee?
Thanks,
Tom
there is a campground. it is $15 for you and your vehicle or $5 if you walk in.
there's porta johns, water and showers at the campground and free showers at the baptist church in town. plenty of food at the park and in town.
bring some cash and a credit card
you can get a schedule almost anywhere in town and at the campground
Fannypack
04-02-2008, 06:46
there is a campground. it is $15 for you and your vehicle or $5 if you walk in.
I was looking here:
http://www.traildays.us/schedule.htm#5-15
and i see the following:
Park your car for $15 and admit occupants for $5 each at Campground.
Also u can get more info about Damascus here: http://www.damascus.org/
So it appears that everyone will pay to enter the camp area, i.e., everyone that enters the campground area must have a wrist band, right??
Lone Wolf
04-02-2008, 06:47
I was looking here:
http://www.traildays.us/schedule.htm#5-15
and i see the following:
Park your car for $15 and admit occupants for $5 each at Campground.
Also u can get more info about Damascus here: http://www.damascus.org/
So it appears that everyone will pay to enter the camp area, i.e., everyone that enters the campground area must have a wrist band, right??
yes. $5 for anyone entering campground. even if you're just visiting
OutdoorsMan
04-02-2008, 08:56
Thanks for the info. If at all possible, I will be there!
Tom
www.traildays.us (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/www.traildays.us)
Frolicking Dinosaurs
04-02-2008, 10:55
I'm gonna get hiking boots and trail runners thrown at me for this post, but I'm going to say what is on my mind anyway.
Trail Days isn't about hikers anymore -- it is more of a small town craft fair with some backpacking gear thrown in. The town wants the hikers to continue to come so they can suck up the $$$ they bring, but several of the policies they have enacted scream this event isn't about hikers anymore - like charging gear vendors far more than craft vendors for booth space, charging a fee to visit people in the campground, charging separately for parking and camping so thru-hikers will pay to camp (previously only those driving in were charged because this event was for the benefit of the thru-hikers), moving the homemade gear contest away from the main pavilion, moving hiker-related events to less desirable times and places.
The city campground is a place to be avoided if possible - it is one huge, drunken / smoked up, smelly party. Do not plan on getting any sleep if you stay there. Do not be surprised if someone falls on your tent in the middle of the night trying to find his or her tent. Do not be surprised if someone up-chucks right in front of your tent. Do not be surprised if you see a couple of folks doing the horizontal tango on a quilt right out in the open while you're making a midnight run to the oh-so-full and retching smelly port-a-potties. By the end of the weekend, you will be trudging in mud up to your ankles to go anywhere. Poison ivy is everywhere.
Being a portly female Dino walking with a cane and walking around with the clean-shaven and neatly coiffed (what is left to coif :D) He-Dino, I have gotten to talk to some of the townfolk who didn't realize I was part of the hiking community.... what they had to say about the tent city was pretty telling. Locals call the campground Sodom and Gomorrah. Several said they wish the town would put the campground further from where the town people live and shuttle the campground crowd in & out so they could get some sleep and their children would not see the things they see during Trail Days. They said they would not let teenage children go out alone at all during Trail Days for fear they would be given drugs and alcohol or lured into sexual activities because all have happened in the past to local children during Trail Days. One said she was the only person left on her street - all the others left town during Trail Days.
Bring cash and credit cards - you will need lots of $$$. If I had relied on the various food vendors and restaurants for food during the last few years, it would have been an expensive three-day weekend. The food from the vendors wasn't all that good and was priced too high for what it was (at a local church - cereal bowl of beans and cornbread with onion slivers was $4 - a 20 ozs soda was $2 Town square vendor was charging $8 for a plate of rice and beans with a bit of meat on the side and $3 for a large drink.)
I'm Damascus' worst nightmare -- I stay at a motel in Abingdon or camp in the National Forest so my lodging $$$ go elsewhere. I bring a daypack with lunch - no standing in line for half-an-hour to pay high prices for low-quality food for me. Dollar General is not 200 yards from the town park -- I buy a bag of chips and something to drink there to snack on.
Before I close, I want to say that Damascus is a really wonderful town -- one we visit to bike and hike at other times of the year. Come to Damascus when TD isn't in town and see for yourself. Just don't go there for TD and think you've been to Damascus. That town is so much nicer than the image TD will leave in your mind. If Damascus was like it is during TD, I'd never set foot in the town again.
warraghiyagey
04-02-2008, 11:38
Yaay Dino.:)
FD for the warning. In my long-distant past the campground might have sounded like a raucous good time, but now I, too (57 y.o.) prefer peace, quiet and SLEEP at night. Nessmuk has been planning for us to stay at one of the more distant campgrounds, complete with our own food.
If we are not aren't happy in town (we like Damascus VERY much) that weekend we will hike.
PS: The Ramp Festival is that weekend, too, from what Nessmuk tells me. We are big ramp diggin', cookin' and eatin' folk.
Frau
Lone Wolf
04-02-2008, 12:29
FD for the warning. In my long-distant past the campground might have sounded like a raucous good time, but now I, too (57 y.o.) prefer peace, quiet and SLEEP at night. Nessmuk has been planning for us to stay at one of the more distant campgrounds, complete with our own food.
If we are not aren't happy in town (we like Damascus VERY much) that weekend we will hike.
PS: The Ramp Festival is that weekend, too, from what Nessmuk tells me. We are big ramp diggin', cookin' and eatin' folk.
Frau
http://www.blueridgemusic.org/SearchResultDetail.asp?EditRecord=56&Region=
http://www.blueridgemusic.org/SearchResultDetail.asp?EditRecord=56&Region=
Great site LW!
Lion King
04-02-2008, 13:11
I'm gonna get hiking boots and trail runners thrown at me for this post, but....
So...how do you really feel?:D
I have to agree to a point on a lot of those issues.
I remember (AND SO MISS) when Trail Days was tiny and on the river before the Mill was built and we had tents in town and the fire was there and the vendor booths were cheaper and there were only local cops and not the entire VA militia peeking into tents and what have you. (Not knocking all the Cops there as some are cool, some are not)
I remember when you could leave all your gear in your tent and not have to worry about some jerk from the surrounding towns coming in dresed like a hiker and stealing everything from out under you while you played a drum/danced a contra/wathced a presentation.etc...
Its still a fun time, its still nice to se everyone from over the last 10 years since I started hiking, but it has changed alot.
It is more 'commercial' (HE says as he prepares DVDS for sale), but there is always Hot SPrings fest if you want intimate and small hiker gatherings. For now.
I still like Damascus and I think Ill buy that house next to Lone Wolf and turn it into a Hippy Commune.:D:D
Lone Wolf
04-02-2008, 13:15
I still like Damascus and I think Ill buy that house next to Lone Wolf and turn it into a Hippy Commune.:D:D
cool. i won't have to travel far at all to kick the *uckers
Lion King
04-02-2008, 13:20
cool. i won't have to travel far at all to kick the *uckers
I knew you'd like that!~
eventidecu
04-02-2008, 13:54
Trail Days is way over rated. Rate it right up there with the traveling carnival, after 15 minutes you've seen it all.
eventidecu
04-02-2008, 14:03
But yes it is a great little town, bring your bike or pack so you'll have something else to do the other 95% of the day. Or like it's been said, visit at other time of year like summer. It's nice and cool up there during hot summer.
cool. i won't have to travel far at all to kick the *uckers
http://bp3.blogger.com/_L7jjqvNMa7g/RaaWCX8aavI/AAAAAAAAABo/AsKgg4SduwE/s400/sp902_Die_Hippy_Die.jpg
IMHO, it is what it is.
I treat is as a social gathering. Like a lot of things, some like it, some don't. For those who don't, there is a simple solution. Don't go.
For those who do like it, roll with the flow and make the most of it. I see people there I only get to see once a year at most and enjoy a weekend of "festival" like atmosphere.
I am not saying anyones perspective is wrong...I am merely saying our individual perspective is our individual reality. My perspective is that it isn't the Sodom and Gommorah that others perceive it to be.
I love Damascus. Am starting to not love Trail Days. Been to every one since '94. It was a lot better back then.
Blissful
04-02-2008, 15:38
I liked going last year just to see many of my hiker buddies who were on the trail. I thought the parade was tamer than the year before where people scooped up water from puddles on the road and dumped it on others (disgusting) But we have gone three yeas now and will likely sit this one out. But Paul Bunyan wants to be there. He was offered alcohol several times last year at the campground (and he is underage).
warren doyle
04-02-2008, 22:54
Why would anyone stay in a fenced-in, crowded, not-free, toxic waste site campground with all those beautiful free campsites just outside of town?
There are some quality, informative programs at Traildays but they won't be at the 'campground'.
OutdoorsMan
04-02-2008, 22:57
Thanks for the info. I will be there if at all possible.
Tennessee Viking
04-02-2008, 23:10
cool. i won't have to travel far at all to kick the *uckersI'll pay $10 to join in on the fun for that.