Day 44: Damascus, VA! The friendliest town on the trail!

5.8 miles: Unnamed gap to Damascus, VA

Yes that's right. Virginia! We are out of Tennessee and 3 states down! Damascus is where I got off the trail last year, so starting tomorrow I'm on all new terrain! I'm so excited!

Damascus is a wonderful town. If your ever in the area I highly suggest you visit it. It is known as "The Friendliest Town on the Trail". Every house here looks beautiful, everything is clean, and the people are very welcoming. The first night in we stayed at 'The Place'. It is a Methodist church run bunkhouse that is available to hikers (no car assisted hikers) and bikers, and asks only a $7 donation for a nights stay. Damascus is a very bike friendly town due to the "Virginia Creeper Trail". The VCT is an old rail system that was converted into a 33-mile long trail that goes right through Damascus.

As you can see the AT and VCT run straight through the town.

When we made it into Damascus the first thing we did was get situated at The Place. It was a very interesting bunkhouse. Very clean, Very beautiful, but had a pretty quirky caretaker. He was a bit grouchy if you didn't pay attention to every single sign and rule in the house.  We called and made reservations at the Woodchuck Hostel for a bunk and slackpack the next day then hit the town. We went to dinner at Hey Joe's, a wonderful little taco place run by very nice people. After having 2 burritos, 2 orders of chips, and finishing everyone else's chips we went out to the brewery to meet the section hiker's Preacher John, Kip, Elena, and Jeff

The Damascus Brewery is a very cool place. It was Elena's birthday, her and Jeff wanted to buy us all drinks and we had a fantastic time at the brewery playing Foosball, talking with the owner about how he makes the beer, and just talking the night away. They are fantastic people! Thank you so much! We gave Jeff the trail name 'Hill Runner' due to the fact that he loves to run marathons and gets so pumped out on the trail that he runs down the hills. We gave Elena the trail name 'Baller' because of how awesome she is to hang out with, and the fact that they wouldn't let us pay for any of our beers! After a wonderful night we went back to The Place and had a much needed good nights sleep.

Fun at the brewery.

Thank you for treating us dirty hikers to such a good night. It was very refreshing to enjoy town and not be running around worrying about chores and errands the whole time.