Day 79: HALFWAY!!!

Ugh!! Sooooooo cold last night again! I was hoping my tent would be warmer than the shelter, but I'm not sure it was. I woke up shivering sometime in the night and put my rain jacket on over the poofy coat/turtleneck/tank top combo. Hood on. Socks/tights/rain pants also on. Not many other options. After the sun came up, I got a few more hours of sleep and woke up after 9:30. One Life was also still sleeping, and almost everyone else was gone! Xan, Sandbagger and Neutron were packing up, and Ugly Tuna was about to cook breakfast. I was not well rested and my face was super puffy. I must've slept on my stomach the whole night...? One Life had had a similar cold night, and we both wondered whether the super hot nights were better or worse than the super cold ones without proper sleeping bags....

We made it on the trail just before 11am.

Beautiful day for hiking once again!! Easy terrain and happy moods coming into the official halfway point. HALFWAY!!! Just under 1100 miles and feeling great. Incredible. Very proud of myself for making it this far, and I'm quite confident in my ability to make it the rest of the way now. But will I want it to end?!?!




One Life and I caught the guys and Scatters at the General Store in Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The general store is where they sell the ice cream for the halfway half gallon challenge. Moped and Scatters had completed their half gallons and were recovering. Freight Train and T-Bone were looking defeated, trying to finish theirs in the sun. Xan, Neutron AND Sandbagger decided NOT to participate. What?!? They were feeling too good, and they wanted to make up a few miles today, so they each got hot dogs instead. Ignoring an AT tradition?!?! Boo.

One Life and I saddled up, got out our spoons and bought our half gallons. The choices were limited. Only chocolate and peanut butter swirl. I got chocolate. He got the swirl. We began eating at 2:20.

I wasn't sure how I'd do at this competition. I love ice cream. I have the ability to stuff myself sometimes, but I didn't want to feel too sick afterwards. My strategy was to eat as quickly as possible, get it all down, and then puke it up later... if it came to that. Scatters had puked just a few minutes before we started, and she said it made her feel much much better.

I had a good pace. The sun was hot, so I sheltered my ice cream. The breeze was cool, so I put on my jacket. Somehow, this jacket/sun combo gave me super-human ice cream eating abilities. A mere forty minutes later, I has finished!! I definitely felt full (3000+ calories?!?), but not sick. One Life wasn't doing so well... He gave a valiant attempt for the full hour, but with only about a quarter of his vanilla/pb soup left, he gave up. It was a good, rational, responsible decision, and according to his facial expressions, I think it was the right one.

Digestion time! A large group of us sat around and digested for a while at the general store. More phone charging and some planning for the next few days. The non-ice cream eaters took off to cover more miles, while the rest of us weren't so ready. Trail Angel Mary walked by at one point to put up a flyer and we all said hello. She let us into the new AT museum even though it had closed at 4pm. Scatters, One Life and I wandered the small collection and chatted with her a bit. This museum had only just opened June 5. Thanks, Mary!

After a final water fill, the three of us were finally ready to walk again. 7 ish more miles of nice terrain as the sum got low. One Life, Moped and I found a great campsite downhill from the James Fry shelter and made dinner as it got dark. Scatters had kept going. I'm really hoping to stay warm tonight! I've got an extra trashbag ready this time in case my legs get too cold. Fingers crossed!

PS: wow, halfway

PPS: wow, half gallon

(17.1)

-- Posted from the trail...

Location:James Fry (Tagg Run) Shelter