Today I walked 17 miles, ate a hamburger, six chicken nuggets, french fries, two mountain dews, then consumed a half gallon of ice cream in 39 minutes for dessert, then walked another 7.5 miles. Not to mention the official halfway – I’m now closer to Katahdin than I am to Springer. Crazy!
Last night was awful, rainy and hot and crowded. It felt like I barely slept. I know my sleeping bag was wet with sweat and totally unpleasant. The temperature doesnt really drop from the daytime highs until well after midnight, and that’s about the only time I can actually sleep. Even late I still didn’t sleep well, and I was the first one up out of the 30 or so at or near the shelter. I even cooked a hot breakfast and was still on the trail at 6:30 am. I think today was the first day that I didn’t know as I set out where I would be sleeping at the end of the day. That’s mostly because the Ironmaster Hostel in the state park is closed on Tuesday for some unknown reason, and of course I was fated to hit it on a Tuesday.
Most of the first 17 miles was on top of Pennsylvanias South Mountain; it was long, but almost flat. The worst part was the amount of bugs. They got noticeably worse as soon as I hit PA but they were particularly troublesome while walking the ridge today. At the bottom was Pine Grove Furnace State Park, home of the half-gallon challenge. Oh yea, somewhere along the ridge was the official halfway point for 2013, marked by a ring of rocks and a 1/2 symbol. Anyway, at first I thought I would spend the night at the park so I was going to save the half-gallon of icecream for evening. I started with a regular meal, and less than an hour later decided to just go for the icecream now. Apparently there’s actually a decent number of thru-hikers that don’t succeed with the challenge, I managed to get thru it, but it took a bit longer than average. You have to buy a 1.5 quart, then a pint to get the full half gallon, I went with raspberry for the big one and a chocolate pint. Ice cream isnt my favorite food, but it was cold and refreshing after 17 miles. Almost 2500 calories right there!
I decided to keep going since I’d had a nice multi hour rest, and so that I could have a nice short day into the town of Boiling Springs tomorrow. Very ready for an aircondirioned 65 degree room and a good nights sleep. The last 7.5 was pretty rocky, but somehow I felt great even with a stomach full of icecream. Already more comfortable than last night since I have a nice tent site and its a few degrees cooler.