I slept pretty well last night with the background noise provided by the stream running next to me. I got up around 7am and by 8am I was on the road. There will be no breakfast this morning because in a couple of hours I will be on a mission to eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting! The half-gallon challenge is a tradition among AT-through hikers. Upon reaching the halfway point of the trail at Pine Grove Furnace, hikers attempt to eat a half-gallon of ice cream to celebrate finishing half the trail. This is something I’ve been looking forward to since before I started the tour and I’m ready for the challenge. I’m shooting under 40 minutes and would be happy to go under 30 minutes.
Half a gallon for half the process
Since we covered almost 23 miles yesterday, we only had 3.5 miles to go to Pine Grove Furnace. Yesterday we kept an eye on the official midpoint sign, which each year does not always coincide with the mathematical midpoint because trail distances change slightly due to detours or detours. Well, just a couple tenths of a mile past the shelter we stayed at last night, there was the sign.
A few rocky but flat miles later I reached Pine Grove Furnace. We went into the store to see the flavors.
I decided to go with Butter Pecan for the 1.5 quart container and then Strawberry Cheesecake for my pint. We all chose our flavors, went out and prepared to dominate! Queso set up his phone’s camera on a tripod to film our attempt while I set a timer on my phone. At the start of the stopwatch we all go in! I started with the tub of nut butter and worked on the melting edges as long as I could before opening up the center to try to ease the melting there as well. I made consistent, systematic progress against the tub and finished it off in under 20 minutes, just seconds after Blueberry Turtle finished his. I then tapped the pint quickly as it was already partially melted. I completed my half gallon challenge in 24:36!
Frankly, I enjoyed the challenge!
Which beat my goal but fell short of Blueberry Turtle’s time of 22:14. The other two struggled a bit, but Big Stick finished strong, completing in 42:50. Queso finished off our group, limping in at 1:11:31. Some of the others felt bad when they finished, but honestly I feel pretty good. I didn’t eat it as fast as I could have and I love ice cream. So I was created for this kind of challenge!
Card carrying member!
More food?!
After giving everyone a few minutes to settle their stomachs, we headed to the Appalachian Trail Museum, just a few hundred feet away. We walked through the exhibits and informational signs there and found that, frankly, the kid-friendly exhibits on the trail were the most educational and interesting. After spending some time there, we returned to the tent and had lunch. That’s right, less than 2 hours after eating a half gallon of ice cream, I had a burger and fries! After eating, some of our group wanted to cool off in the nearby lake and take a swim. So they took the plunge, I chose not to as I currently only have 1 pair of shorts and didn’t want to walk around in wet shorts for the rest of the day.
The hike resumed around 2:30 pm and began with an uphill climb. It’s not very big or steep, but it’s not the best follow-up to gluttony and a 90 degree day. We had to go about 8 miles to get to a general store, where we planned to go for dinner or snacks. The trail after the climb was mostly downhill or flat. Quite rocky in some sections but overall not too difficult.
We made fairly quick work and arrived at the Green Mountain General Store at 5:30 pm. It was a great little store, with groceries, a deli, grill, fresh baked goods, and lots of cold drinks. I bought chicken tenders, breaded mushrooms, some baked goods and a birch beer. Apparently Birch Beer exists in the NE, but that was fine with me. One guy who stopped asked us how our hike was going and offered to buy us ice cream, but everyone else immediately yelled no, probably rightly so…
Green Mountain General Store
After hanging out until almost 7 pm, we headed out to finish our hike for the day. We had about a mile left which included a short climb, which we did in no time. Then it was setting up the tent and getting it ready for sleeping.
Statistics for day 82:
13.1 miles
1,532′ ascent, 1,884′ descent
Toms Run Camping Shelter
28DSLC…
Stove use times: 14
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