Date: 2003-07-16
From: Quarry Gap Shel

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: broken clouds

Okay, so the shelters were beauteous and fabu, but SMALL and claustrophobic... You know how I am...I probably should have joined Snot Rocket, who camped on the front porch. I might have gotten more sleep. We also had a thunderstorm during the night, which cooled things off, but kept me up for awhile. I woke up in not the best of spirits, then. I kept really feeling lonely and depressed all morning as we packed up, despite the antics of Iceberg Slim and Snot Rocket. I guess it was a manic/depressive sort of state...I was laughing then felt like crying . We cruised through some of the easiest terrain on the Trail so far, 7.4 miles to a brand new shelter. The competition to have the best shelter in PA is very stiff. This one had laminated floors in the bunk space and featured a gutter to drain the front porch. So far, though, as beautiful as this one is, I prefer last night's for ambience. We met two brothers who are doing just over half of the Trail this year, Rock Steady and Chow Down. We had a good lunch there, and continued on. Today was a very exciting day, you see, so we needed to hike at great speed. What caused our haste? Why it was the HALFWAY point...for real! Well, it's very close. We'll actually hit it tomorrow, but before you get there, you arrive at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park Store. This is where you take the "half-gallon challenge." It is tradition to eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting here. For accomplising this great feat, you receive (drumroll, please!) a wooden spoon stamped with the words "member of half gal. club". Oh, yeah...I was getting that spoon! I made my choice...it needed to be something not too heavy. I love moose tracks, but figured I wouldn't be able to get past all the peanut butter cups. I went, instead, for mint chocolate chip. Iceberg Slim also chose that, Snot Rocket picked cookies and cream !and Randy chose vanilla. Gerri abstained, but ate a cup of sherbet. I am proud to say that, in just under an hour, I was victorious!! (Bleah!) Actually, we all were...and the guys ate sandwiches afterwards. I don't think I could have had another thing (nope, I still haven't). We went back to the hostel, where we're staying for the night...showers and clean clothes, yay! I called Seester and talked with her for awhile...had all my feelings from this morning come flooding back. I can't figure out how you can be surrounded by people and feel so lonely at the same time. I don't know...am I homesick? I miss my friends and family at home. I miss the ocean. I miss my cat. Am I done at halfway? All this has been bouncing around inside my head today. I went outside on the giant chessboard (no kidding...on the lawn) and had a good cry. Sometimes, that's just what you have to do. (And I'm not even PMS or anything...) The bugs were biting me (but the fireflies w!ere out!), so I headed in. On my approach to the porch, I missed the top step and stubbed my big toe (yup, the same one I had the blister on). When I got inside, I could see that I had torn the skin off the top of the toe and it was bleeding like crazy. Great...what next? I daubed at it with a cold, soapy paper towel and cried some more. Brad, the man who works here got me some ice, hydrogen peroxide, a bandage and some plantain, which grows here and he said would take the sting out. It did, too, because when I poured the hydrogen peroxide over it, it was the only part of my toe that didn't sting! I bandaged it up and called my Mom. We had a pretty good talk and she helped get me out of my funk somewhat. I think now I just need to get some sleep...and then an early start on the second half of my trip. So, on that note...good night! P.S. Please send good vibes and e-mail (woodsdragon@pocketmail.com)! I could really use them right now!