Date: 2004-05-27
From: Quarry Gap Shelter, PA

To: Day 65: Tagg Runn, James Fry Shelter, PA
Miles today: 24.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Before going to bed at the Quarry Gap Shelters, I warned everyone that my alarm would go off at 3:45 a.m. on AT Day 65, but that I would be as quiet as possible and try not to wake anyone. Of course, this polite announcement generated the expected reactions, which I countered with the truth. Namely, that the only way for me to keep up with high mileage of the younger and obviously stronger, more coordinated and usually much bigger young hikers, was to get a head start. Besides I like to hike as much as possible when it is cool and I love to watch the changes in lighting of the scenery as the sun comes up (and goes down).With this goal in mind I hit the trail at 5:45 a.m. and although I found the early sections to be quite muddy (and a little dark), I still managed to cover the 5-miles to the Milesburn Cabin by 8:00 a.m. where I found the NOBO AT through hikers, Chris, Anna and their dog, Bo still getting up after spending the night camped on the cabin¢s porch. We exchanged greetings and I sped off to have my first snack of the day at the beautiful Birch Run Shelter at the 7.4-mile point. The easy hiking continued and I reached the 13.7-mile point and the Toms Run Shelters in time for lunch where I was soon joined by the fast hiking Chris, Anna and Bo. I quickly sped off again, but this young trio still got to the Pine Grove Furnace State Park store just before I did.Unfortunately we were all then disappointed to discover that the store would not be open until Memorial Day weekend ¢ two days away. The vending machines out front were operable so it was possible to get a cold soda, but what we and Tom who showed up a few minutes later wanted was to buy ice cream ¢ a lot of ice cream. Why? Well it is well know that through hikers all seem to crave ice cream all the time (I¢m eating some now as I type this journal), but what made our inability to buy this treat at the Pine Furnace State Park store such a downer was the fact that it is has become tradition to celebrate the reaching the AT halfway point at this store by seeing if you can eat a half gallon of ice cream in one seating. Resigned to this situation, I walked on into the park, found a pay phone (since my cellular phone didn¢t work) and called my wife to push up my pick-up time by one day so I could take on gluttonous challenge ¢ besides I was averaging considerably more miles per day than I originally planned and it looked as though I would cover nearly as much mileage in three days as I originally thought would take four.Shortly after leaving the park¢s picnic grounds I came upon the now famed AT Midpoint Marker, a wooden sign erected by ALDHA member, Chuck Wood to denote the unofficial half way point in our trek from GA to ME. Just as I preparing to take the requisite timed photo of myself to denote this memorable achievement, up came Tom who assisted with the photography and I returned the favor. Just as we were finishing, up came Swiss Miss so we once again celebrated with pictures and just as were finishing, up came Stealth. Noting that I had now been at the sign for at least 30-minutes, I volunteered Swiss Miss to take Stealth¢s picture and then Tom and I sped off UP the trail. Tom¢s youthful speed was particularly apparent as we climbed one of the increasingly rare hills (~700-foot climb) and he was soon out of sight. Stealth, and eventually Swiss Miss also passed me as we made our way the 6-miles or so to the James Fry (aka, Tagg Run) Shelter. Swiss Miss told me that even though reaching the shelter would represent a day¢s hike of 24.6 miles for all of us, she was going to pass it by in favor of hiking an extra mile or so to a small store where she could buy ice cream.When I finally reached the James Fry Shelter (via a 0.3-mile Blue Blazed trail), I found Tom who has already been there for 90 minutes and another NOBO AT through hiker who¢s name I¢ve forgotten but whom I hadn¢t seen since one snowy night at the Double Spring Shelter in NC. Tom was surprised that Stealth and Swiss Miss had not yet arrived so I told him about Swiss Miss¢ plans to make an ice-cream run. Tom thought that made good sense so he left to join in. Well I was hungry, but my feet hurt and I was tired and give the clear possibility of more evening rain, I decided to stay the night in the shelter. Shortly after I was settled, Chris, Anna and Bo made their appearance and we now had four for the night.