Date: 2015-06-01
From: AT Midpoint - Dead Woman Hollow Road @ Mile 1194.6

To: Campsite at Mile 1104.4
Miles today: 9.8

We headed out a little after 8 after meeting Spooner who just returned to the trail after a week off because he got Lyme disease which is my top fear! We hiked what must be the nicest section of trail in Pennsylvania. Thick bushes of Mountain Laurel lined the trail for a mile or so. We passed a lot of day hiker / runners going southbound. Some rocks but not as many as we have had in past few days. At Toms Run Shelter we stopped and saw Mama Bear, Spicy Man (9 yrs), Strong Man (5 yrs), Little Butt (5 years) for the first time. We later learned at Pine Grove Furnace park they hiked Springer Mountain to Harpers Ferry last year and are hiking Harpers Ferry to Mt Katahdin this year! Carlos caught up to us and we passed the fancier midpoint sign which is 4.1 miles after this year's actual midpoint. Star shine and Firewalker whom we had seen yesterday at the Caledonia Park snack stand caught up slackpacking again. We hiked on the last three miles into Pine Grove Furnace State Park passing Catnapper on the trail along the way. He told us he did the half Gallon Ice Cream challenge yesterday and still ate a hamburger and fries! We stopped at Ironmasters Mansion Hostel where I was expecting three packages but they don't open till 5 pm.Hikers: you can send your mail drops to the General Store instead of the hostel so you don't have to wait until 5 pm if you don't plan to stay!!It was almost 11:30 am so we moved on to the General Store where the Half Gallon Ice Cream Challenge takes place. Last Chance and Spooner had just completed the challenge. I am a challenge junkie and even though Ice cream isn't the best food for me to eat, I can't pass up a challenge but I wanted to wait an hour since I had eaten breakfast. Crafty had been uncertain about doing the challenge but she too can't resist a challenge and decided to start her challenge at 12:02 with Orange Pineapple which she thought was sherbert but was really ice cream. Meanwhile Mama Bear and her 3 kids arrived and that's where I learned of their hiking achievements! At 12:54 pm, I decided to start my challenge with Hershey's Green Mint Chip. The challenge includes 1.5 quart container of ice cream and then you get a scooped one pint to make the half gallon. I finished my 1.5 quarts after about 35-37 minutes and was thinking about waiting but I also wanted to just finish the challenge. So after pausing a couple minutes I decided to just get the last pint - Mint Moosetracks. It looked big once a had it in my hand but I was committed. We also learned Catnapper did the Half Gallon Challenge twice in four hours yesterday! And he ate a hamburger and fries in between plus other food before and after! Spooner let the kids play his Ukulele.Ice Cream and Timber had arrived and Ice Cream was working on his 1.5 quarts of Neopolitan. He then hit a pint of Mint Moosetracks. Crafty finished her 1.5 quarts and decided to wait before eating the last pint. The last cup was the hardest to finish and Ice Cream finished a spoonful ahead of me but he had consumed his half gallon in half the time in the 65 minutes it took me. I just hope not to be sick!I chatted with Engel who stopped at the store and sat next to me. He thru hiked in 1983 and knew a lot about the trail in the area. We were disappointed the ATC Museum was not open even though it was supposed to be. Apparently they are short on volunteers so the museum doesn't open if they do not have anyone to staff it. I also chatted with Maps & Moxie whose entries I had been seeing in the registers the past few days. It rained pretty good for a bit then stopped. By then everyone had left except for Cat Napper who was planning to stay at Ironmaster's. He used to run ultra marathons and ran several 72 hour and 6 day endurance races. He had been amazing us with his food intake and he was on his fourth 2L bottle of diet coke today. He explained he needs a lot of hydration and even had an issue with his toes where they were swollen because of insufficient hydration. Crafty and I now think that may also be our issues with our numb toes because I don't think we have been hydrating enough. It was good info to at least consider. Finally Ironmasters opened at 5 pm and I retrieved my 4 boxes from REI plus awesome care packages from Jeanne & Michael (homemade extra dark chocolate cookies and Grizzly Bars!!) and Lori (yummy snacks and treats!)! Thank you guys!! Crafty ate her last pint finishing her Half Gallon challenge. We packed up and walked to the free showers at Fuller Lake and took a warm shower. Then headed out of the park and up a ridge to find a campsite before it started raining. We set up camp and the rain started a little while after. It came down pretty heavily but certainly helps cool the temperature down a bit! I am hoping there aren't any more crazy "challenges" on the AT. I don't think I can handle any more this week! ??