Date: 2022-09-10
From: Stealth South of Little Dogwood Run

To: TomÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Run Sheter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: clear sky

A half gallon of chocolate ice cream was not intended to be eaten by one person in one sitting. Jasper and I conquered the half-gallon challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park today. We questioned our life decisions afterwards. Joni, Baxter, and Grayson wisely bowed out at earlier stages in the contest and walked away with their continence intact. Some quotes from the challenge table: ¢My stomach isn¢t even physically big enough to fit that much,¢ said Baxter, staring at the container that still was more than half full of ice cream. ¢I legitimately thought I was gonna throw up. I¢m surprised I¢ve not yet,¢ said a pale Grayson, 30 minutes after throwing in the towel. It took him an hour to recover but he packed away a cheeseburger and fries before we left. Today was a long day of unremarkable trail. Pine Grove Furnace State Park was 14 miles ahead of us. We all got a pretty slow start out of camp. Joni and Jasper traded comfort for weight savings and traded in their long sleeping pads for short, 48 inch versions. Since both of them are taller than 48 inches there¢s lots of body hanging off the pad. Joni has slept poorly for the past two nights since KOO hostel. Fourteen miles is also an awkward distance to shoot for. ¢Twelve before twelve¢ is a tough but attainable goal. A long break has been earned after 12 miles. Fourteen miles seems close enough to skip the break and push on but that¢s a very long stretch to stay in feet. The trail itself was relatively easy today, mostly old gravel roads. We dumped out onto a park bike path still about a mile from the general store. It was a pleasant walk next to a creek that we shared with the weekenders who were also out enjoying the weather. As we neared the store we met Dirty and Hash who had recently finished the challenge. They were still in the throes of recovery. Twenty more yards down the way, a lady in a gaggle of folk around a fire ring asked, ¢Do you guys want some free food and drinks?¢¢Yes,¢ I replied quickly. The boys, usually readily accepting of free food, had the upcoming ice cream gorging in mind. It was ¢Girl Scout Saturday¢ at the park. A ranger there had prepared a presentation on campfire cooking including beef stew, roasted veggies, pizza dough breadsticks, and apple dump cake prepared in Dutch ovens. One Girl Scout had shown up. The stew was in a 12 quart Dutch oven. It was delicious. I had two bowls. Then I had a bowl of dump cake. I considered skipping the challenge altogether and finishing the Dutch oven full of beef stew.We spent the next 3 hours eating ice cream, lounging, resupplying, touring the museum, and chatting up the other Thru hikers. Grayson and I walked to the hostel next door and picked up his new quilt. We had had it shipped to KOO but it only arrived yesterday, after we had left. Betsy, who owns KOO and lives in nearby Boiling Springs, delivered it to PHFSP for us. Thank you, Betsy! Grayson has been sleeping under puffy jackets for the past two nights since we mailed his sleeping bag home in Duncannon (it was a heavy, bulky synthetic bag that we swapped for a down quilt). We walked out of PHFSP at 4:15 and blazed through the 3.5 miles to Tom¢s Run shelter, arriving a bit before 6:00. We claimed the small 4-person shelter and prepared for the 2 A.M. rain forecast. It looks like it will rain all day tomorrow and Monday. Jasper built a fire. Baxter, Jasper, and Joni ate dinner. We set up sleeping pallets in the shelter and filtered water for tomorrow. We¢re bracing for another 2 or 3 days of rain. We¢ve reserved a hotel in Waynesboro for Monday night to get a break from the deluge. We are as ready as we can be.