View Full Version : How long to Damascus?
slimjim414
06-18-2011, 11:56
I'm planning on hiking in 2012, and came across this crazy thing called Trail Days held in Damascus :). I was just wondering how long on average it takes for people to hike there from Springer? I'd love to adjust my schedule so that I can make it there for that. Thanks!
Tenderheart
06-18-2011, 14:01
It took me exactly 30 days. It's around 455 miles.
litefoot
Tenderheart
06-18-2011, 14:04
Make that 465 miles.
Lone Wolf
06-18-2011, 14:21
5 weeks.....
Stir Fry
06-18-2011, 17:35
35 to 40 days
slimjim414
06-18-2011, 18:07
I was originally planning on leaving in the beginning of March of 2012, but that seems pretty early if I want to go to Trail Days. This means I'd end up having to push it back another month probably to mid-April. Is it worth it in anybody's opinions?
ChinMusic
06-18-2011, 18:25
I was originally planning on leaving in the beginning of March of 2012, but that seems pretty early if I want to go to Trail Days. This means I'd end up having to push it back another month probably to mid-April. Is it worth it in anybody's opinions?
I would start when you want to start. You can always catch a ride back to Trail Days.
six weeks for me, but I'm old...It took a month to get to Hot Springs and a week to Erwin and a week to Damascus... Oh, and I got to Damascus before Traildays, so I got a shuttle north and hiked back to Traildays....
bigcranky
06-18-2011, 19:50
Figure five to six weeks. Trail Days is fun, but I wouldn't plan my start date around it. If you want to go, you can get a ride back to Damascus from the trail, and then back to the trail afterward.
Lone Wolf
06-18-2011, 19:52
I was originally planning on leaving in the beginning of March of 2012, but that seems pretty early if I want to go to Trail Days. This means I'd end up having to push it back another month probably to mid-April. Is it worth it in anybody's opinions?
no. not worth it. go to trail days the year after your hike.
Among completing NOBO thru-hikers from 2001-2010 who kept detailed journals at trailjournals.com the mean number of days for Springer to Damascus is 40.3 and the median is around 43, as you can see in this article:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=170578#post170578
Let's call it six weeks. There is a heck of a lot of variability among hikers, though, so the odds of you hitting it on the nose aren't very good, unless you leave yourself lots of cushion and then take as many zero days as necessary to time it right. Probably easier to get a ride to Damascus from wherever you are on the trail. You'll have lots of company.
If you stuck with your plan to start in early March, and if you made progress like the "average" completing NOBO, you would be around Waynesboro at the time of Trail Days, about 390 trail miles north of Damascus.
slimjim414
06-19-2011, 01:56
Hmm very interesting. As much as I'd like to go to Trail Days, it seems like it's too late in the hiking season for me. Are there plenty of people who hitch back down to it?
kayak karl
06-19-2011, 07:10
49 days, but spent 4 days at SORUCK
Lone Wolf
06-19-2011, 07:17
Are there plenty of people who hitch back down to it?
yes but trail days really ain't all that. focus on your walk
Blissful
06-19-2011, 09:02
I wouldn't plan my start day around it either, as you will be in a huge bubble of hikers then. You can usually get a ride. Starting in March you'd be in mid VA. But I like going. Have been for seven years.
CrumbSnatcher
06-19-2011, 09:10
i've caught rides to Trail Days from
Erwin TN. 99'
partnership shelter 02'
Harpers Ferry 03'
wouldn't worry to much about it
slimjim414
06-19-2011, 16:45
Cool thanks for all of your input! I may compromise and push my start date back to late March or maybe April 1, but will then catch a ride back down to it so I won't be too far ahead of it. Thanks again!
stranger
06-20-2011, 03:54
28 'hiking' days to Damascus haha (we won't mention overall days!). I never had a problem moving on the trail, just getting out of Dodge!
In my opinion, you don't want to be anywhere near Damascus during Trail Days (hiking wise), I would personally want to be in Pearisburg by then, or no further north than Erwin.
There is a huge mass of Nobo hikers who leave Damascus after TD's, it's hardly an enjoyable experience back on the trail, some people enjoy it though. Also for many hikers, TD's is the end, they just don't know it yet. Many hikers look forward to it, organize their hikes around it, spend a week there, 10 days, etc...and the hike is never really the same. MANY people quit the trail at TD's and soon thereafter from what I've seen.
I agree with Lone Wolf, hike the trail, go to TD's the next year, to me that makes so much more sense if your goal is to hike the entire AT. There are plenty of other places to party along the way, just something about TD's that kills hikes from what I've seen.