Appalachian trail days 2025
Trail days is an annual festival celebrating the Appalachian Trail and all of the people who love it. During my 2024 through hike, I shuttled back over 100 miles in order to experience the festival. This year in 2025, I flew across the country and did a short overnight hike, NOBO(Northbound) to the city Damascus. Where I met up with so many close friends and celebrated our adventure together.
Hike before the trail
Driving into the city of Damascus felt like the wrong way to reunite with the Appalachian Trail. My trail days started two days south of Damascus.
Walking this short distance was the best decision I could have made around this trip. Walking it felt like I had returned to a friend’s home. There is this automatic acceptance that you get from most through hikers when you come into a shelter. Everybody is high on life (at minimum.) and conversation comes easy.
It was like I was being dropped into any other evening from last summer the conversations topics were the same. As always, food was on top of mind. There was complaining about the trail already hiked, and worry about the trail yet to come. Of course, Trail Days was a major topic, and I asked so many questions about the storm damage Helene left on her wake.
Highlights of the photos below include a photo Log Cabin, who started the fire for us all, and one of the pile of sticks photographed was once a flat campsite and my last before entering Damascus during my through hike last year.
Trail days and Tent City
Looking back, I wish I had taken more photos, but that’s the only thing I would have changed about this trip. While the town of Damascus is special for this annual migration I was so wrapped up around the people and friends that it faded into the background.
Trail days
Photographed below is a picnic put together by the Shaw’s hostel which turned into a family reunion of 2024 hikers.
Then there’s a presentation put together by Half-Pint where she invited other artists to show off their work surrounding the trail.
The last photo from this talk being Miss Janet standing in front of a photo of her home Erwin town devastated by Helene. As she spoke about how much love exists in the Appalachian Trail hiking community.
Tent City
I have heard Tent City described as a music festival without the music I find this to be a good description for somebody who hasn’t experienced it, but it fails to encapsulate the sharp differences walking a hundred feet makes.
On the south side of this pop-up city, you have a large city-based ball field. Where people attempt to hide from the chaos and get some sleep.
To the east there is the One Way Ministries church, every year they open their doors to hikers giving them a place to shower, do their laundry and of course eat!
Finally, To the west in the forest by the river is a three day party. Camps pop up everywhere some organized year after year others fighting to find their spot in the overcrowded forest.
The images below are mostly from the forest.
The Hiker Parade
Every year through hikers line up from oldest “class” to newest and walk a mile down Damascus Main Street as children squirt water at them as they walk by!
Unfortunately, the photos of a parade from being inside of a parade are not the best.
Florida and the journey to trail days.
Before trail days I flew into Orlando Florida. Where a hiking friend of mine named Eeyore owns a horse ranch. She showed me and another friend of ours, Jasper around a local state park As she hosted us the days before we road tripped up to Tennessee to start our walk.
Then on my way back home. Eeyore could not let me leave Orlando without experiencing a little Disney. So we went to Disney Springs explored some shops and had lunch.
