I camped in my tent last night, which helped me to wake up with the sun today. After a quick breakfast and another begrudging hike down the side trail for water I started my 10 mile hike back to town.
I left at 7:30am, before most of the camp had a chance to wake up, and found myself in Damascus proper by 11am. Before today's hike I had been questioning the title of Tennessee Turnpike, but it truly lived up to its name for this last section.
It was nice to stroll into a town and know my way around. I walked the reverse path that we had paraded down, and came back to good old Quincy's Pizza. The Mr. Pibb woke me up, the chicken fingers and fries filled me with energy, and the electrical outlets charged my devices. It was back to civilization and all the glory that entails.
As I ate I noticed Tapeworm bouncing past the store window and jumped to get his attention. You know you've left the norm of society behind when you find yourself leaning out of a restaurant screaming "Tapeworm!". He joined me while I ate and we caught up. He planned to hike on further than us today, but we expect to end up at the same shelter by tomorrow. His ankle seems a bit better and he got a new pack that helped him drop 4lbs and fit him better, so he was feeling pretty good.
He left to attempt and start his hike, and shortly after the place started filling with hikers coming down off the mountain. My table filled and I had a slice of pizza with Mr. Fantastic and Optimus before we wandered over to the gear shop.
Mr. Fantastic received a shipment of homemade chocolate chip cookies and shared with the gentleman who had held the package and me. They were delicious. I got a new spoon with a longer handle. The tines on my spork scratched at the sides of my pot and the handle was short enough that I sometimes singed knuckle hair while stirring my dinner. So 8 dollars later I have a new titanium spoon with a long handle. Win.
While there we bumped into Stonechair and learned that Dick Flap, Shenanigans, and Meta were also in town. Next thing I knew I turned around and found Waldo. In some ways it almost felt like a Trail Days redux. Everyone I've seen lately was there as well: Tree Trunks, Duditz, Fozzie, Friar, Compass, Nimbus, Merry, Sweet & Sour, and Nature Guard.
Eventually I met Mr. Fantastic in the library where he surfed the net and I continued charging while downloading the rest of my audiobooks. It's nice to enjoy a little relaxed internet catch up. The weather turned hideous outside for a short period, with sideways rain whipping through the streets. The wind is made much more visceral when you have a mountain with trees on it in the distance to show it to you. The whole cliff face danced with violent energy, so we pulled our packs inside and enjoyed the shelter.
We closed the library down at 5pm, as the elderly librarian finally shooed us out. We had to finally do our resupply, but I demanded a brownie and ice cream first. We sat down at a table with Stonechair, Dick Flap, Meta, Shenanigans, and Waldo. It was a delicious reunion of the hot fudge brownie with ice cream variety.
They were all staying at the $5 hostel in town, but we wanted to hike on a little further, so we finished up and got our resupply done.
I wanted to finish some charging at Mojoe's, but unfortunately they were closed, so I cinched up my boots, and we set out onto the trail. It took longer to get back into the woods than it did to climb up to the campsite, but it was good to be camping instead of renting. We were joined up here by Nature Guard with a couple section hiking, and heard some pretty interesting theories from the husband.
It was a great day back in Damascus and feels like our paths may all be crossing again. But you never really know how the timing will play out for everyone, what injuries or illnesses could arise, or for that matter who may decide to start pumping out more miles. It's a like great cross country race where you hope everyone wins, and they can.
