Date: 2015-06-16
From: Rocky Mountain Shelters, PA

To: James Fry (Tagg Run) Shelter, PA
Miles today: 30.1
Weather: broken clouds

Shared a shelter last night with Ukulady and Chameleon while Moosehead slept in the shelter next door with Offie and a lady I call Lehigh since I forgot her name. Ukelady, as you can guess, carries and plays a ukulele each day and night on the trail. She played and sang a few songs before bed and I joined her for a couple. I thought we did well together.Up at 6:30am, I quickly scarfed down a pop tart and granolavar, dominated the privy, and lathered up the boys with a heavy dose of Desitin and Gold Bond. Moosehead headed off before me and I said I'd see him later if I was able to cover the miles. Starting off a bit tender and slow, the chaffing soon subsided enough for me to start covering some ground. I reached the Caledonia State Park, void of any people save a few maintenance works painting a footbridge and mowing. I found a bathroom and posted up for an hour, charging my iPad and guzzling water in the process. I soon left despite acquiring much charge knowing I had miles to put in.Immediately rising out of the park, I began another sweat-drenched day climbing up ~900ft to the top of a ridge where I'd remain for the majority of the day. I passed Ukulady and Chameleon in the process who had moved ahead while I was hanging out in the park. The only thing more graceful than Ukulady's voice and skills on the strings might be her ease at which she covers distance.Shooting for Birch Run Shelter around ~7 miles later, I mistakenly stopped at the PATC Milesburn Cabin for lunch when I saw Twister chatting it up with a group of civilians. I was in bit of an energy shortage mode and, for whatever reason, assume the cars parked nearby and the civilians had just stumbled upon one of our shelters and were using it too. Sitting on the front porch diving into some Skittles, I found out we were actually crashing in on their rental cabin. Oops. They didn't mind though. They did, however, mind a bit earlier in the morning when a couple of section hikers took a few cold beers out of their cooler assuming it was trail magic. I might've done the same thing myself had I been the first one by.Continuing on another ~2 miles to the shelter I meant to stop at for lunch, I took a quick 10-minute break instead before returning to the trail. With the Pine Grove Furnance General Store not having a clear closing time, my goal was to be there in time. Pushing on at the fastest speed my feet would carry me, the miles disappeared in a blur. I reached Dead Woman Hollow Road which marks the official midpoint of the trail for the 2015 season. The trail's length fluctuates from season to season as trails are changed throughout its length. Not noticing any sign signifying the point had been reached, I forgot it was actually the midpoint and continued blazing on, assuming I'd be reaching it ~4 miles after Birch Run Shelter. I began to notice that it was taking me a long while to reach it until I discovered, once reaching Tom's Run Shelters, I had overshot it by ~2 miles.I figured, crap, and continued on. Fortunately less than half a mile later I discovered a wood sign marking an older version of the midpoint. It was hard to miss with 2 American flags flapping in the wind. I decided, though not the actual midpoint for my season, it'd suffice and grabbed a few quick pictures. Back to the trail I would soon pass the 1,100- mile mark as well. With Pinegrove Furnace State Park only ~3 miles away, I rolled into the general store at 4:00pm, too late to visit the AT Museum nearby for it just closed. Moosehead was at the general store and told me it was pretty neat - a few old pictures and artifacts from the earlier years. The Pine Grove Furnace General Store is known to hikers for one reason: it's the home of the half-gallon challenge. For reaching the halfway point, hikers drop in here and test their ability to down a half-gallon of ice cream which they, of course, have to purchase. I find it rather stupid that it's consideredma challenge when the hiker has to pay for their ice cream - win or fail. A challenge should be not having to pay if you succeed; make it a gallon-challenge so that fewer hikers are likely to succeed. Rant over. Anyways, I still bought my share.Sitting around a table with Moosehead, Duck, Flapjack, Tunez, and Huey, we all dived into our individual flavors of vabilla, chocolate, mint, raspberry, and cookies and cream (my choice.) In a relatively quick and unchallenged fashion (20 minutes to be exact,) I was the first to succeed and as a result was given my "trophy" - a tiny wooden sample spoon stating I was a member of the half gal club. Joy. I also signed the club log, noticing both Burnsides and Safari had accomplished it yesterday, and Rock Boat a few days before that. I will say that Safari needs to man up a tad after reading his comment. Simply put, Safari: There's no crying in ice cream eating. Unless you're watching The Bachelor. The remainder of the group, except for Duck, gradually finished theirs and joined the club over the next hour. I had a 2-liter of Coke to go with my ice cream and I gradually drifted deeper into a food coma over the next couple of hours as we relaxed and chatted.Eventually Moosehead, Duck, and I sucked it up and wobbled over to the nearby Fuller Lake where we enjoyed ~30 minutes of swimming around the in sun-drenched water, massaging our feet, and being nibbled on by tons of tiny fish. Afterwards we walked to a nearby bathroom/shower facility and enjoyed a free shower. You had to press a small button that would turn the water on for 20 seconds. I pressed it enough times to know. Unfortunately it was our second shower with no shampoo or soap, but clean water makes you feel a ton cleaner regardless. My hair is extremely oily, though healthy, and can be described as compressed iron ferrite. We followed it up by drying ourselves via the hot air of the hand dryers, allowing the air to drift down into our nether regions and do what it does best.Returning outside and getting dressed, I had a rumble in the jungle that I was expected to make an appearance after the intake of so much ice cream. I made a quick beeline for the bathroom where I unleashed a liquidy mess I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It was packed with f'n grease and smelled amazing. Now I was ready to coast into a campsite ~2.5 miles away. Or so I thought.Spurred on by tons of sugar received by a half-gallon of ice cream and 2 liters of Coke, my body seemed to find a new gear. Although the next series of miles past by in a blur, I won't beat around the bush and say it was amazing. It wasn't. I was also spurred on by my own version of demons. All hikers are out here for some reason or another, some just to hike, others in search of themselves or for a spiritual journey, but it's safe to say some are running (or walking) away from who they might've once been. I can't say exactly what I'm out here for or what I will have eventually learned about myself, but I can say I'm already a much stronger person than I was over 1,100 miles ago. Covering ~7 miles in exactly 2 hours, I felt poked and prodded like a piece of cattle as I cursed myself and certain things about my past. No amount of sweating or chaffing could throw me out of the zone I entered during this stretch, and maybe it was for the best. Maybe this is the one time it would've happened; maybe it'll happen again. All I can say is that I'll be ready.It's currently just after 10:30pm and a few hikers have been asleep, or at least tossing and turning, since 9:00pm when I arrived. I've retreated to a nearby bench so as not to bother them in the process. I don't think I can take any more bug bites so that'll have to do for this entry.Here's to my first 30-mile day, less than halfway to go to Katahdin, and meeting the challenge so far.