Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 94 – The Halloween party bubble
28th October 2023
Campsite (1721.9) - Damascus (1727.7)
Daily miles: 5
Total miles: 1728.6
The moon was so bright it was like a spotlight on camp. It would have been easy to walk with no headlamp in the open.
After a very warm and peaceful nights sleep we started walking at about 7:30am until we found a pit toilet within about 3 minutes and all stopped to use, then I hiked into Damascus with Professor on the Creeper Trail, and lemonhope and Rabbit Foot were just ahead of us. It was a quick and pleasant walk and Professor and I mostly reminisced about 2018.
Creeping into Damascus
On the Virginia Creeper Trail
We walked to the Damascus Diner and got some breakfast. I didn’t bother eating when I got up and just snacked on fruit snacks.
I had the Hiker Hash - country potatoes with peppers, onion, and ham, egg and cheese on top. It was pretty good.
I then tried to make a plan for the next section which we probably won’t stick to but at least there is a plan of some sorts.
Made it to Damascus
Devoured this eggy, potatoey, cheesy goodness
We walked to the Broken Fiddle hostel which we have booked out the entirety of, thanks to Sidequest and some excellent logistical planning. We have all 10 of us, plus 9 other SOBOs who have travelled back, or jumped ahead, for this SOBO gathering. So there are 19 of us, plus Professor and a few other people.
We arrived at the hostel and start to meet everyone. There is another Brit there - Hendrix from Jersey, plus Neptune, Thigh High, Tinker, Charmin (Czech), Forest, Robin Hood, Late Start and 1 other who I can’t remember the name of.
Monopoly Deal going down at the Broken Fiddle Hostel
It became a little overwhelming and when Smokey (the hostel owner) said he was driving to the supermarket I took the opportunity to get away for a bit and resupply. I went with Rabbit Foot and Safety and Sidequest and we all walked back together. I think I did my resupply right this time. I was pretty focussed and I have a few bits left over from last time so I think I’ll be ok. I got extra fruit snacks because the box of 40 was on offer. I got a chocolate milk for the walk back which was about a mile.
Back at the hostel I showered and gave my laundry in (which gets done and reappears clean, dry and folded which is excellent! Then I sorted my resupply, it felt good to get it all done and out the way.
After calling my parents I went out for a little stroll on my own. I went to Dollar General and picked up some more Ginger Ale packets, and to a coffee shop to pick up a sandwich as it was now 4:30pm and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 9am.
Tasted nicer than it looked
On the way back I noticed there was a fun run happening and they were wearing hotdog costumes. It is Halloween weekend and we are supposed to be getting dressed up in costumes as part of our SOBO hiker gathering, but I didn’t have a costume yet. So I saw a group of people taking photos and one of them took his costume off. I asked him if there were any spare ones I could have and he gave me his. Result! A free Halloween costume!
I put it on to walk back and so I could walk in and surprise everyone. I got some very strange looks from people in cars and people shouted “WEINER” at me on 2 separate occasions.
WEINER
It was worth it though as it had the desired effect when I walked into the hostel and everyone was surprised to see a hotdog walk in. We all got ready to go out and there were a variety of costumes, some people went to the thrift store and picked up some good ones. I used face paints to do streaks of mustard and ketchup on my face to complete the look.
Toe
May Queen
Neptune
Howard
Rabbit Foot
Cal (best outfit)
Robin Hood (because of the hat!)
Lemonhope
The SOBO mega bubble
Ready to party
Howard (yes, that is his trail name) and Cal
No idea what his character was but it looked fun
The best thing I’ve ever got for free
I’m not in pain, even though it looks like I am
We went out to the distillery where there was live music and we danced a lot. I committed to the costume and kept my arms inside all night which provided some amusement while I was dancing. The guy singing did a off the cuff rap about us all and it was definitely a highlight, it was so good although now I can’t remember any of it.
Party outside a brewery
The bad was brilliant
3 blind mice
Don’t zoom in on my face
Kept the arms in all night
Just Winnie the Pooh dancing with Jesus, nothing to see here
Another Weiner
A good time was had by all
I had one drink. A Monster Mash or something like that which was gin, blue curaçao and pineapple juice. It was very nice but one was enough for me. A man brought shots for everyone - of whiskey - so I gave mine to Professor. We danced a lot! So much so that my phone thinks I’ve walked 11 miles today.
Monster Mash
When the band finished it was basically just us and a handful of locals left and I was ready to go back to the hostel then, but we all walked to the brewery which Toe told us was close but ended up being a mile away! None of us were keen on hiking a mile but we did anyway and the brewery was kind of fun - lots of amazing costumes there.
We stayed for about an hour I think and then everyone wanted to go back so Professor was going to go and get his car and do shuttles but Treehouse (dressed a Jesus) called Smokey and he came to collect us in his pickup. I was inside the car and there were a lot of people piled into the back of the pick up.
We got pulled over by the police and it all got very tense while Treehouse – who was very drunk – did not do what the cops told him to do and did not stay in the vehicle! He tried to argue with the cops. They don’t like that. Treehouse said “do you know who I am?” and the cops said “yeah, you’re Treehouse”. His trail name, not even his real name! So Neptune had to calm him down and Smokey - who was driving and sober - apologised to the cops and got away with a slap on the wrist.
All the time this was happening I thought there was a cop stood rather creepily behind another car watching and it turns out it was Charmin in a sailors hat.
I’m in bed at 11pm and Neptune is puking in a bush outside my window.
