Date: 2010-06-22
From: Tom's Run Shelter

To: Alex Kennedy Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: overcast clouds

~~~The Pine Grove Furnace Ice Cream Challenge~~~I was the first one out of camp because I knew that I would meet up with everyone at the Pine Grove Furnace Store so that I could watch Lorod do the Ice Cream Challenge. Because the half way point is near here, the deal is you eat a half gallon of ice cream without throwing up and you get this dinky little wooden spoon claiming status the the half gallon club. No way on God's green earth was I going to attempt this status. The few miles in were quite pleasant. Saw several chipmunks; they're really little and I recognize them because of Chip and Dale from Disney...haha. Several rabbits and lots and lots of birdsong, my favorite part.So I got to the store at 0830 and waited for 9am so I could get a little restock. And I have to say that for being directly on the trail and that so many hikers go thru there, they were a pitiful store for restocking. A few rice dinners, the only bag of bagels and 4 Gatorades is what I bought. No Advil, no Propel, none of the things I really wanted, except of course, the cold Gatorade. The Boy Scouts who I have had following me for the past three days came up. They all know me as Snoopy because we hiked on and off together. Well, the other group of boys were here and everyone was eating ice cream, but these guys didn't have a leader with them and they looked so hot and worn out. So I pulled some money out of my wallet and paid for ice cream cones all around. Of course, they loved me !!! Good kids...they deserved the break.Lorod came up and completed his ultimate status of the half gallon club with a gallon of cherry nut. He and I had serious discussions the night prior as to what flavor would work best. The chunky kind would be harder to swallow and I reminded him that if he choose a flavor that was a personal favorite and he upchucked it later, he would never eat it again. Hence, Cherry Nut was chosen and was an excellent choice. 36 minutes of ice cream galore (only because he ate no breakfast).The Pine Furnace Park is really lovely. It has a beach area where you can go swimming and the lake is reflected against this wonderful view of the mountains and trees. I hiked on while Lorod sat and digested. The trail passes by these fields and there were several Amish families there, playing a serious game of volleyball and having a picnic. Three little girls, all in the colorful Amish dresses, followed behind me a ways and peeked at me from a bridge as I turned the corner to go North. I waved to them and one waved back. I thought that they were fascinated by the Snoopy that was hanging on my pack but a lovely woman that walked a ways with me, Heather, reminded me that those sweet children had never seen Snoopy before. They were so beautiful and I wanted to take a photo but I respected their culture and kept my camera tucked away.By the time I got down to the next shelter, James Fry, it was too early to stop. I sat at the bridge going over the stream and took care of my feet and took a break. Down the trail from the shelter comes Freeman. He said there was tent pitched but no one around and that the shelter had a lot of mosquitoes. He hiked on while I finished up with my feet and shoes. My blister has an angry look to it and hurts a lot. I made it up the highway where the trail crosses over and almost wanted to hitch a ride into town to get medical supplies to take care of it, but I'm not comfortable with the whole hitching thing. Decided to hike on, which was a major mistake.The miles to the next shelter were more than what I wanted to hike, especially with injuries and with my appetite down, I forced myself to eat a bagel to give me more energy. The parts just before finding the shelter were extremely hard; severe rock climbing. It was twilight, I was really, really tired and frustrated at my decision to continue on when I should have just stopped at the last shelter. And then, I saw Freeman up ahead, climbing the same boulders. Together we finished up that stretch and came upon a stream the ran under the roadway we had to cross. Our data books indicated that there was no water at the next shelter, so we both stopped to treat water before continuing. His treatment took 20 minutes so he decided to take a break and read one of his botany books. I hiked on.By the time I found the shelter, it was close to dark. I was alone again. So I did my usual camp chores; set up my hammock because it was so buggy, took a bath, got ready for bed. Freeman eventually made it and set up his tent in the shelter to utilize the netting. I'm reading my book in my hammock when this guy comes up. We both thought it was another thru hiker. Turns out to be a local guy named Jeramiah who was celebrating his 27th birthday by hiking up to this really remote shelter to cook noodles, drink Johnny Walker Red and smoke pot. He offered all to us; we declined everything and I have to comment that the pot he was smoking in no way smelled like the stuff I caught people smoking on all the pot rides at Disney. Needless to say, he was quite the mellow fellow. I went back to bed. Love the hammock !!