Date: 2008-05-20
From: Pine Grove Furnace state park

To: James Fry shelter
Miles today: 7.2

Ironmasters Mansion hostelI tried the half gallon challenge, and i was unsuccessful. The half gallon challenge is when you attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting. I got about half of my vanilla half-gallon down, but that was it... i was feeling kinda sick, just eating that much. Gobbles got his down, but he wasn't having fun for the last half. So he is part of the half-gallon club. I will have to try again when it is not 50 degrees and raining outside, and i can sit around for an hour or two eating it without shivering....I thought i might be able to pull it off, but my hiker hunger was not up to it. Too soon after getting back on the trail... bummer!! But then again, gobbles was really hurting on the way up to the shelter, so maybe it was a good thing i couldn't eat it all....So even though we all woke up about 6:30, we didn't get moving till 9:30. Ray called the store owner, and he agreed to open the doors for us to make the attempt for the challenge. So we just hung out at the hostel until the store opened, and we moseyed over there. While we were waiting, gobbles clued me in to a website called chucknorrisfacts.com, which was pretty funny, and i did emails and tried to check the weather.We finished up the challenge and started hiking about 11... and we started off slow... my stomach was hurting, and gobbles was still recovering too. But he was very happy with his trophy wooden spoon, and was singing phantom of the opera songs to entertain us as we walked out of the park.So not long (10 min or so) after we got into the woods, it started pouring rain again. What is going on with the weather?!?!... it's May, yes? it's supposed to be warm, right? I thought it was APRIL showers bring may flowers...so it was a wet hike to get here, without any good views... but we did get past the half way marker, and we took our pictures. That was fun...We got to the shelter by 2, and we have just been hanging out trying to get our stuff dry, and stay warm. There are 5 of us here tonight - gobbles, me, olive oil, and chris, andrew and champ just rolled in at 7:40. There are another two hikers here, but they are tenting, so i haven't gotten to talk to them much, even though we keep leapfrogging them.Tomorrow will be another short day - just 8 miles... i am positioning myself for a pick-up from my wife because it is our anniversary this weekend (#4), and gobbles and olive oil are taking an easy day before the 19 miles across the valley. The plan is for me to catch back up with them on memorial day, on the other side of duncannon. I will be skipping another section, but i have already hiked most of it, so i'll head back out this fall and slackpack it (hike without monster backpack), to get it completed. It's nice to be this close to home sometimes... offers more flexibility in logistics.If i tried to be a purist, i'd have to race to catch back up, and that's no fun... not when you're alone.Time to wrap things up here and get ready to call it a night...the weather is beautiful now, clear skies and sun... hope that holds through tomorrow.P.S. - i am liking this poncho more and more...