Day 39/May 10

Miles hiked: 16.85 in 5:45

Start: Birch Run Shelter, PA

Finish: James Fry Shelter, PA

Elevation gain: 1,686'

Sort of the official half-way point for thru hikers, but it obviously does not apply for Flip Flop'ers.

Today was cold, rainy at times, and always damp with a strong wind. Unfortunately, it was also the day when I would pass through Pine Grove Furnace, the home of the half gallon challenge. That challenge is to see if you can consume a half gallon of ice cream. If you do so, they give you a small wooden spoon as proof of your feat (stupidity, gluttony, or??) and they enter your name in a registry of successful challengers. Mind you, if had been 80°F, I might have taken the challenge, but since you have to eat the ice cream outside the store, where it was 50°F and windy, it wasn't worth trying, at least in my view. Nonetheless, a couple of thru hikers, Toast and Dill, both had been dreaming of the challenge for weeks and nothing was going to stop the gals from their mission. LOL

They were wrapped up in their sleeping bags, however, sitting at a table while eating all that ice cream. Neither one of them needed the calories, imo. :-)

Pine Grove Furnace is also home to the Appalachian Trail Museum, so I stopped there for a while to view the exhibits and charge my phone. Photo of the busts of some AT pioneers: Earl Shaffer, Benton MacKaye, Grandma Gatewood and Gene Espy.

Route 1 from my Suunto.
Route 2.