Date: 2014-05-23
From: Quarry Gap Shelters

To: Campsite
Miles today: 30.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I wish I could say I slept better. We had a snorer in our shelter last night. Not a light one...a real lumberjack. Pedro and I both ended up getting out and sleeping on the deck to get some rest. The guy was really nice and really apologetic in the morning but maybe a tent site would have been a better choice. Today is big in many ways. I plan on doing my longest hike yet, my first 30 miler, and I'm passing the OFFICIAL halfway point AND get to participate in the Half Gallon challenge in Pine Grove Furnace State Park. A hiker tradition. Yes, that's a half gallon of ice cream - which really does not seem to be a problem.I was up very very early and was on the trail before 7:00. I still haven't night hiked more than about 1/2 hour and don't really care to. I don't see what the draw is unless you're behind or something, so would like to be in camp and settled before dark. The trail by the book looks super easy. Almost all downhill until the end (of course) with lots of road crossings and things to see. It really was a very easy hike for the first half. Not even too rough with rocks but they are still dealing with all the drainage from the rain so big sections are mucky and muddy and wet and there really is no chance of successfully getting through that much without at least one step deep into the water to ruin all your work. I generally just let it happen.Most of the morning I was restricting my food so I could CHOW DOWN at the general store in Pine Grove and have the challenge so it was a lot of thinking about food that morning. The half way point for the trail changes every year as the trail changes every year due to construction or easements or something. This year it is just beyond a road crossing. Talk about excited. Up to this point I've been adding up the miles. Hey I did 50! Wow I did 200! Gheez I did 1000!!! Now I think, once I cross the midpoint, mentally it's going in the opposite direction. Only 900 more miles to go! Just hang in there for another 200! Not that I want anything to end, I'm loving every minute of this, but it does feel great to have reached such a milestone. But, talk about disappointing! You get to the actual point, and it's a very small pile of rocks with a small wooden stake in it where someone has ripped off the sign so there's only a sliver of it left. Jerk - they thought it was cool to have I'm sure but kind of ruins the experience for every hiker after. I wasn't even sure if it was the actual spot and didn't bother to take a pic. Six miles later you crossed the "actual" midpoint from several years ago, I guess, that had mileages on it. Nice to know I was already three miles into the second half but..hmpff. Well, who cares, there's real orderable food ahead and a ton of ice cream so marching forward. Pedro even passed by me he's so hungry and I pass Spice Kit and Coconut who had camped even beyond Quarry Gap to get closer to the challenge. Spice Kit even went so far as to not eat that morning so she could gorge on the challenge. Can you tell I'm leading up to something here? Finally there's the state park and buildings and traffic and other people and I get to the General Store to see Pedro and his friend (I think his name was Windstorm) out front but something's wrong. They're eating but it doesn't look like cheeseburgers. What??! It's CLOSED?!! UGH. Only open Saturday and Sunday (it's Friday) until Memorial Day which is this Monday. ONE day or weekend too early. Bummer. We all very boringly eat our cheese sticks and falling apart tortillas in silence. Lame. Spice Kit shows up and I don't think I've ever seen so much hidden dejection. She really fought it inside to try and be strong but you could tell she was furious!Onward. I've got a good long day so it's time to keep hiking. Not so bad here. Nice weather, nice terrain, a little uphill, no biggies; but then noticed on the map two "Rock Mazes". Well that doesn't sound good when you're trying to hustle and wait - what's with this impossibly steep and rocky climb? I don't remember that in the book. Decided to ignore and just get it done with. The rock mazes, while fun and interesting were totally unnecessary as is a lot of the trail. I think someone gets it in their head that they need to add more and more to the trail when a simple hike is fine with me. The rock "mazes" where just a twisty trail through big piles of rock and extremely well marked so it's not as if you could make a wrong turn. And it was obvious you could just walk around it if you wanted to but I did them anyway. Frustrated that it was really slowing me down when the evening was approaching and I still had a ways to go. Came across the PERFECT campsite right on the edge I considering stopping at but looked in the book and my 30 miles finishes right after the mazes so I pushed on. Glad I did, very satisfying to finish them AND know I had done 30 miles. 30 miles??!! I really can't believe it and honestly was not at all bad. I wasn't that tired but it was getting dark and don't think I could have made it to the shelter before it did so decided that as soon as I found a suitable tent site I'd just finish the day. Found one in no time! Had a slope to it and wasn't perfect, but it was over. If I had gone on to the shelter it would have been 32.4 but instead I did 30.7. Fine by me! There was even the perfect limb for hanging my food. Set up, eat, pee, bed. Done.