
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 29, 1990                   TAG: 9004300005
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: bill cochran
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HIKERS GEARING UP FOR TRAIL DAYS

Hikers walking the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine already are beginning to show up in Damascus. By the weekend of May 18-19, as many as 150 through hikers are expected in the small Washington County town for the fourth Appalachian Trail Days celebration.

Damascus is known widely as "the friendliest town on the trail." The celebration has been growing annually, said Dink Shackleford, town manager.

Townspeople provide housing, meals, music, parades, dances and a speakers' forum for the hikers and other guests. Many hikers who have passed through Damascus and are as far north as Daleville return for the celebration. To help them this year, the town is planning a shuttle service, Shackleford said.

Some interesting characters are expected, said Shackleford. He has heard about a blind hiker and guide dog coming north on the trail. Also there is a hiker who has vowed to live off the land, but Shackleford said he would be surprised to see him in Damascus.

"That has been tried before, and I don't think those hikers last long," he said. "You can just eat those roots and ramps for so long."

by CNB