Date: 2017-08-26
From: Boiling Springs, PA

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 19.5

It began promisingly and with so much hope and commitment, but as the halfway mark grew nearer the toll began to tell and some fell by the wayside. That's an accurate comment about the AT in general, with about three quarters of those who start a thru-hike failing to complete it. But today this dynamic played out in microcosm via the medium of ice cream.Sriracha and Sweetblood were attempting one of the more venerable of the AT¢s innumerable traditions: the half gallon challenge. This is where hikers strive to eat half a gallon of ice cream at Pine Grove Furnace State Park to commemorate reaching the halfway mark on the trail. It seemed a little contrived for sobos, partly because we hadn¢t yet hit the halfway mark of the trail and weren¢t due to do so until tomorrow. But a challenge is a challenge and they were up for it.It began well, even though the recent passage of so many hikers and the state park¢s store running down its stock ahead of the impending end of the summer season meant the only flavour available in half-gallon containers was mint chocolate. And because the half gallon tubs of ice cream don¢t actually contain half a gallon, an extra pint was required to make sure the actual amount ingested was the full measure. At least there was a better range of flavours available in the pint size but together the challenge cost $10, also making it a good little earner for the state park store.Sriracha approached the task like, well, like a thru-hiker. Sweetblood did her best but less than halfway into the first tub was struggling and hadn¢t reached the two-thirds point when Sriracha downed the final swallow of his supplementary pint.Victory came at a price, however, and the inevitable thermal consequences of ingesting half a gallon of ice cream in the space of 32 minutes meant he was soon shivering with mild hypothermia. Sweetblood, meanwhile, ended up face down on the table. Defeated! But the Newtonian nature of the universe was confirmed and for every action (Sweetblood¢s inability to eat more ice cream) there was a balancing reaction (Dirt descended onto the remaining ice cream like a seagull on French fries). I¢d hoped to catch up to Sriracha and crew that day as I left Lisa¢s low-key hiker hostel that morning. They¢d hiked ahead a few days before as we approached Duncannon but I knew Dirt¢s mother and cousin were coming out to hike with them for a few days so their mileage was going to decrease enough for me to catch them.Lisa¢s husband drove me back into town to get back on the trail, earning what I hope were some serious marital credits for allowing her to sleep in on this day, a Saturday. I¢d seen some tangential comments about Denali in the register at the hostel and asked him about it and was told he¢d attempted it twice, unsuccessfully, and was aiming to have a third go when he retired in a few years time. We talked about my solo ascent of it back in 2008 and how Juicy Fruit, another 2017 sobo who Lisa had tried to entice back to the hostel after spotting him in town while picking me up, had climbed it just before starting the AT. (No wonder Maine didn¢t hold any terrors for him!) The pleasantness of the trail through the Cumberland valley went up another notch as the AT went straight through the middle of Boiling Springs, which was possibly the most civilised, polished and beautified village I¢d seen this side of the cover of a box of chocolates. Even when it emerged into the fields surrounding the town, the grade and trail tread remained entirely civilised and the ascent into the hills to Center Point Knob beyond was gently graded, even though this was a return to normal mountains instead of the long flat straight ridges I¢d been following for nearly a month.This was also just before the start of the university year and I ran into a couple of university groups doing pre-orientation leadership courses in the woods, which served as a reminder of how overwhelmingly white the general hiking community tends to be.Crossing a wooded valley on the far side of the mountain, I ran into Dirt, Sweetblood, Dirt¢s mother Scarlet and cousin Sandy, who were moving at a gentle pace with plenty of breaks as befits the latter pair¢s absence of trail fitness. Sriracha and Switchback had been hiking with them but had gone ahead.The terrain proved to be nearly as featureless as the long flat ridges of recent weeks, even if the actual topography was a little more varied. This was definitely the long green tunnel, in which there were few if any views and the only interest came from occasional brief but convoluted routes through what the guide described as ¢rock gardens¢. It was an easy place to make miles.I later passed Young Scout, who was hobbling heavily after aggravating his nascent shin splints by doing a 25-mile hike the previous day. There was nothing nascent about his shin splints now and he had already resigned himself to taking a day off instead of trying to abide by his original schedule of meeting his family in Harpers Ferry in a few days time.Notwithstanding his goal to catch Old Scout, this seemed both wise and inevitable. Just watching him hobble felt painful.He wasn¢t assisted by the trail tread, which deteriorated for most of the second half of the day into an unwelcome return of ¢Rocksylvania¢. But in the final few miles towards Pine Grove Furnace State Park, it improved again to follow an old forestry road and then an old railway bed that was so ridiculously smooth and flat that it was busy with families on bicycles.At a lake, complete with a patrolled swimming beach, the trail became sealed for the final half mile or so to the state park store. I¢d hoped to visit the AT museum here but missed the closing time by half an hour so instead I wandered over to the store, where Switchback was devouring a burger, which was an impressive feat given that he¢d completed the half gallon challenge only an hour earlier. This was a boy who could both hike and eat at a level that was wondrous to behold!He headed on soon after, only narrowly missing the arrival of Sriracha, Sweetblood and Dirt. They¢d headed off ahead of Dirt¢s mother and cousin so they could get to the store before it shut at 4pm.After their mixed fortunes at the half gallon challenge, they waited around for the others to arrive while I wandered over to the neighbouring Ironmasters Lodge, which was the former forge master¢s stately residence but which now served as a kind of hostel. For $35, they offered dinner, bed and breakfast. Three nights in a row of a bed and a shower? Embrace the civility! Life is good.AT fact of the day: Switchback was trying to meet his mother in Front Royal, about 160 miles away, in seven days. He¢d decided to do this by hiking 10 miles yesterday (so he could spend time with Dirt¢s mother and cousin), 20 miles today, and then 30 miles tomorrow. This schedule would put him in place to attempt the four-state challenge, another AT tradition in which hikers try to do in one day the 44 miles from the Pennsylvania border, through Maryland and West Virginia, to the Virginia border. Since Switchback had already done the much tougher Connecticut challenge ¢ doing the 52 miles in one day, along much more difficult terrain ¢ this didn¢t seem likely to tax him especially. After that, he aimed to reverse this fartlek-style hiking schedule by doing 30 miles, 20 miles and then 10 miles into Front Royal. Madness! But he was fit enough for this to be a feasible objective...