RATtreks

Trail Days – 5 – 17 – 2013 to 5 – 19 – 2013

Despite the absence of some of our dearest hiker trash family, and nearly being killed during the Hiker Parade, this years Trail Daze was still a lot of fun. It is much like a huge family reunion where we only get to see many of our friends once a year. Thanks to the modern age of social media we are able to keep in touch a lot better than it was in the many years prior but, nothing takes the place of getting to hang out and have fun together at Hairntville.

The weather did not cooperate this year as we did have a lot of rain, so much in fact that it made it tough to get the vehicles out of the upper field where this years camping area was moved to. There was no choice but to move it there as the lower yard was way too wet a week before the event from weeks of rain. We had a great time up until the Hiker Parade on Sat, where my daughter, her boyfriend, her dog, and myself were hit first from behind by an out of control Cadillac driven by an older guy who suffered from a sugar coma. After striking us and a parked car, he went on to mow down dozens of other hikers in the parade. My daughter nearly went under the car but,  despite many injuries no one was seriously hurt or killed which was miraculous. The emergency response people were phenomenal in their handling of the crisis. What better place to have an accident than where dozens of emergency personnel were close by ! Literally within seconds they were on scene and helping the many who were injured. Five helicopters were called in along with several ambulances and within 20 minutes all the injured were in route to various hospitals including ourselves. I can not praise or thank them enough for their excellence that day.

It took a long time for the shock of that traumatic adventure to wear off but we managed to not let it ruin our good times back at Hairntville as we were all thankful to still be able to sit around the fire, eat good food , drink some beer, play guitars, and enjoy the company of our closest hiker trash friends. I am already looking forward to next year. To see the complete collection of photo`s from this years festivities, please visit the Photo Gallery here.

Hairnt Stone at the Level 2 Fire Pit at Trail Days 2013