Date: 2015-05-31
From: Old Forge Picnic Area

To: AT Midpoint - Dead Woman Hollow Road @ Mile 1094.6
Miles today: 23.1

The bench wasn't bad; however it was hot in my sleeping bag but the bugs bit me where I didn't stay covered. The traffic on the road was noisier than expected too. cars really flew by fast! However the fireflies were still very cool and one was under the picnic table. We headed out at 6:15 and climbed up to Chimney Rocks for the first view of the day. A little cloudy. We moved on hiking a little slower than our usual pace. We passed a section hiker and decided to stop for a snack a few minutes later. Carlos arrived having easily caught up to us after yesterday's low mileage day even though he zeroed and went to DC on Thursday. Another southbound section hiker Dave stopped by and told us about a snack bar at the Caledonia State Park 6 miles ahead. Carlos & Crafty's eyes lit up. Wild Thing and his dad stopped by and I learned from his dad that even though the waste spill in Falls Creek was last year, he wouldn't be surprised if some waste water still drained into the creek. Since my water filter doesn't filter crypto, I get to find out in 3 weeks if I am affected. Yay! We all moved on motivated by snack bar. Crafty and I hiked with Carlos and enjoyed talking about his PCT hike last year, our pre-AT lives, etc. we finally arrived at US 30 and crossed the street where we found one Trail Magic Leinenkugel Summer Shandy beer. We hiked the remaining 0.4 miles and took the side trail to the park where we saw picnickers all over. Five passed by with her burger. We dropped our packs at a picnic table and checked out the snack bar. Since they wasn't much veg options besides fries and ice cream, I decided to eat my own food since I could feel yesterday's resupply weight in my shoulder knot. We enjoyed a two hour break at the picnic table before pulling ourselves away. Carlos and I accidentally missed the turn and ended up hiking 0.4 miles southbound behind the day hikers before realizing we missed the turn off and had to go back and find where the AT turned. We finally caught up to Crafty at Quarry Gap Shelter which was amazing! Overseer Jim was there and chatted with us. He really took care of the shelter and had added some nice touches such as a bench, flowers, picnic Pavillion, etc. We really wished we were staying there tonight but it was too early to stop hiking. Jim works really hard at keeping the shelter nice for hikers and we really appreciate his dedication and hard work! After a great chat it was 3:15 and we had 7.5 miles to go. So we headed out. After a climb out we enjoyed several miles of unexpectedly nice PA trail. Carlos stopped for water and planned to camp somewhere before the shelter. So we bid him good night and Crafty and I hiked on to the shelter. I was laying out my tent footprint when Crafty proposed we hike the remaining 2.4 miles to the official 2015 AT Halfway Point. I had wanted to pass the halfway point before the end of the month anyway so I was definitely game. We cooked dinner chatting with Last Chance and Paul with Bunions who were staying at the shelter that night. Another reason to move on is Crafty was worried they would snore and she had wanted to sleep in the shelter since it was supposed to rain. After dinner we headed out at 7:30. We reached the Halfway Sign at mile 1094.6 around 8:20. It was small and a little wimpy. I didn't have a penny to make a wish so I put down a marble I had received from Ann at Mothers Day hiker feed. She had given out marbles asking us to leave it somewhere scenic since she couldn't travel. Our next step was to find a tent spot. Fortunately we found one near the gravel road right after the halfway point. It was closed off so not a they traffic road so we figured it would be okay. We could hear the thunder and lightning grow closer and closer for the past couple of hours. An hour later it started to rain, which also helped cool off the temps which had been stifling and muggy.