Trail Days Day 2, May 20th

The church put on a pancake breakfast in the morning. There was a crazy long line for it. Near where the laundry was being done there was a truck providing showers for hikers as well. It was actually really nice and they provided a fresh towel as well. It felt great to be clean.

I met Brie! I had been talking to her before I left to start the trail. We were talking of hiking together, she had hurt her foot and had to delay her start date. She just started a few days ago. We checked out more of the booths and met Awol! He's the creator of the guide book I using to help me navigate and plan my hike.

Back at the church two hairstylist come in to cut hair for hikers. I got my bangs and dead ends trimmed. She braided my hair for me too!
Next was the hiker parade! A parade for all the people who have previously through hiked the Appalachian Trail including a section for this year's hikers. Everyone was divided up by the year they hiked the trail in and signed a banner created. It was really fun and exciting. All the people watching the parade were squirting us with water guns and dumping buckets of water on us because we are "stinky thru hikers". It started raining halfway through the parade. We just got completely soaked.

I took shelter on the porch of the library. One of the Librarians came out and said that she setting up a movie for us to watch indoors to wait out the rain. It was actually pretty cold inside so we all sat on the ground against the wall like sardines keep warm after being soaked. The movie selected for us was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Everyone slowly started trickling back out after the rain stopped. I went back to my tent to change clothes and get warm as well.

There were some Raffles going on when I was taking a nap in my tent and hiding from the rain. I learned later that I won a Daypack but since I wasn't there to claim my prize it was given to the next ticket that was drawn.

I watched another raffle happen, the one for the Backpackers magazine it was ridiculous the amount of stuff they were given away. Just these massive bundles of gear. I put a ticket in yesterday. I didn't win anything. They were also tossing out a bunch of small things to the crowd like buffs and powder packets.

 Later the brewery was putting on a hiker prom. I made some friends who were camped nearby and we headed over. There was a shuttle that drove out there since it wound be quite the walk. We dropped by the grocery store nearby to grab some snacks then walked on over.  It was a party and hikers dressed up, lots of glowsticks and pizza too. I didn't stay too long. I worked my way back to tent city where there was another bonfire and party happening again.