Date: 2011-05-31
From: Quarry Gap Shelters

To: Iron Master's Mansion Hostel
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: few clouds

(In which I pass the halfway point)Buffalo, Moosehead, German Shepherd, Cayenne and I all set up our tents at a campsite 100 yards past the shelter. "It's like we're our own little clique," Cayenne says. Having always been the outsider to other hikers' groups, it's strange to think that I might now be seen as an insider. Cayenne hiked up a case of beer from the road two miles back, and Buffalo, Moosehead and German Shepherd are very appreciative. "There's only one thing better than beer in the woods," German Shepherd says. After a pause, Cayenne guesses skeptically, "Sex in the woods?" "Ah, clearly you've never had a nice weekend in the woods with a good partner," German Shepherd says wistfully.Though it is still sweltering out, we build a small fire to keep the bugs away. We sit around the fire talking into the night before eventually heading to our tents. Our tents are close enough that we can continue talking from there. After we finally fall silent, I can hear each of the others, one by one, unzip their tents to get up and go pee in the nearby woods. Twenty minutes and six pee excursions by the others later, I laugh softly, having discovered another advantage to not drinking.* * *We wake up by six, glad not to have to stay quiet since we're all leaving early to reach the Pine Grove Furnace State Park before the AT Museum closes at 4pm. We hike in an intermittent hiker caravan, leaving and rejoining each other at various break spots. Around noon, having synced back up at the last shelter, we all reach the halfway point together. The halfway sign is the largest and most celebratory so far, and we all take photos and make silly poses. As we leave, the enormity of 1090.5 more miles sinks in, carefully balanced against the equal incomprehensibility of the distance we've already traveled.Buffalo, Moosehead and German Shepherd all eagerly look forward to attempting the half-gallon challenge, where hikers try to eat half a gallon of ice cream in half an hour near the half way point on the AT. I look forward to it as well, though my interest involves only spectating and documenting, and Cayenne thinks that the whole thing is silly. The three challengers are all confident in their ice cream eating abilities, holding no fear that they might spoil their appetite for ice cream later on the trail. When we get to the small store with the ice cream we see Lemur again, who is hanging out with his uncle who has come to visit him on the trail. Lemur skipped the challenge, but joins the audience as the challengers walk out of the store proudly holding their selections, Cherry Jubilee for Moosehead and German Shepherd, vanilla for Buffalo.We start a timer and watch the three struggle to extract spoonfuls of ice cream from the exceptionally hard, cold blocks of ice cream. The first fifteen minutes is a test mostly of arm and spoon strength, before the 90 degree weather finally brings the temperature of the ice cream up to a more spoonable level. Having all started slow, the three each finish strong, speeding up as fast as the consistency of the ice cream allows it. They each finish in under thirty minutes easily and in good spirits. "What do you think about ice cream right now?" I ask Moosehead when he's done. "I think it's delicious," he says with enthusiasm. "I mean, I might wait a *few* hours before having any more, but it's still delicious." Buffalo, still hungry, and goes inside to order an egg, cheese and ham sandwich. Cayenne laughs at my apparent disappointment that none of the challengers grew sick or threw up. For my part, I savor my four ounce ice cream cone and am glad to have achieved the one goal I set for myself at the start of the hike (as Trilobite may remember), not attempting the half-gallon challenge.We check out the AT Museum, a small but cool room with an old original shelter and displays with interesting pieces of AT history, then head down to the nearby lake. The lake has a beach and is well attended by swimmers and sun bathers. After two months in the woods, being surrounded by such a large crowd of bikini-clad females is a shock, though hardly a unpleasant one. I take a free shower in the bathrooms, and the others take a dip in the lake before we all return to sitting in the shade and enjoying the view.Moosehead decides to hike on to save money and Lemur takes off with a friend from the area, but the rest of check in to the nearby hotel, $25 for the night with dinner and breakfast included.I am glad to have had such a relaxing day to commemorate the halfway point of my hike, and a day of lounging has given me time to think about the type of hike I'd like to have on the second half of my trip (to be explored in tomorrow's entry).