Date: 5/29/04
Starting Location: Birch Run Shelter
Destination: Tagg Run Shelter
Miles: 17.2
Total Miles: 1103.7
HALFWAY!!!! Wow, I can't believe it's happened so fast, but here I am over halfway from Georgia to Maine. There have already been so many great memories, and so many more to come over the next 1000+ miles of trail.
I breezed on in to Pine Grove Furnace State Park where I promptly grabbed a ½-gallon of ice cream and attempted to take part in the thru-hiker tradition of eating it in celebration of reaching the halfway marker. I didn't think I had much of a chance, but it all went down with surprising ease, earning my reward of a wooden spoon stamped with "Half Gallon Club Member." In fact, I felt so good afterwards that I washed it down with a coffee, a gatorade, and 2 hot dogs. And for those interested, the Vanilla ice cream alone was 2,246 calories and 144 grams of fat—not bad for a snack.
Great to see Footloose show up, finally over his illness and having put in some big days to catch up. Congrats to Dead Man Walking and Lovebug for both finishing a half-gallon each too! Another perfect weather day to walk and take my picture at the halfway post just up the trail from the state park. The only hiccup of the day was that the package with my new backpack had not arrived at the hostel, so ultralight will have to wait another week until I can forward it to another location up the trail. A great day to celebrate amongst my thru-hiker friends!
