Gratitude.

A day or two after 19E, I was greeted with some lovely trail magic, including fried potatoes and berry cobbler. The magic was hosted by a group called Riff Raff, a group of former thru-hikers from all over who get together this week to host epic amounts of trail magic leading up to Trail Days. After talking to them a bit more, I was thrilled to discover that they had a big camp set up in Hampton and they would shuttle us around from the trail back to camp, provide slack packing, and feed us every day, all free of charge. It was a no-brainer decision.

This was all in anticipation of Trail Days, the annual AT festival in Damascus, VA. It was a loose goal of mine to be able to hike into Damascus for the festivities, and over the past few weeks, it became a more and more realistic goal. With help from Riff Raff, walking into Trail Days was basically guaranteed.

I spent three days at Riff Raff Camp and was shuttled to the points on the trail that I had gotten off the day before. I covered about 50 miles in 3 days and was fed free food every day. I could not have asked for anything more, and the hospitality and good times that Riff Raff provided were nothing short of spectacular.

At the end of the three days, I was able to walk into Damascus a day early. I am looking forward to what Trail Days will provide.