This is today's destination. Located at mile 1097 it is the site of the ICE CREAM CHALLENGE where AT Thru-Hikers are given a half-gallon of their favorite flavor to (try to) consume in a sitting.
A thru-hiker must consume almost 6,000 calories a day just to maintain their weight...which seems almost impossible to me. Almost everyone actually loses weight hiking the thru-hike.
(...as virtual hikers...obviously we DO NOT need this type of calorie load...unless we just want to end up at 500 pounds by our journey's end...I have , however, bought a much smaller bit of ice cream to celebrate real-time when we reach Pine Grove...and suggest everyone traveling along with me to do the same...)
So off we set...for the middle of the trail...and ice cream!
First reaching Caledonia State Park
And an early morning reminder that rattlesnakes are prevalent in this part of the trail.
(and they get out of your way when THEY want to...not when you want them to...)
The signs and warnings are no joking matter.
Stay alert.
Caledonia State Park
The rushing water and mist welcome in a day that is slowly creeping up into the 90's and it is still morning. Reminding you that your last good shower was at Harper's Ferry and that "trail funk" is a real thing...lol!
A lot of the trail through Caledonia is wide...expansive...lined with firs and the surface covered with a soft bedding of pine needles. In short...it is a nice reprieve from the jagged rocky trails of yesterday.
("...don't get used to it!"...warn the SOBO's-southbound hikers...whose battle cry of "YASNY!" You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet...is, frankly, starting to get on my last nerve...)
Caledonia Furnace
And the first black bear I've seen since we entered Pennsylvania.
Curious but wary...running away quickly...it seems to not have the aggression and lack of fear that we saw the Shenandoah Bears have cultivated.
Soon the heat is so great we are literally drenching our tee-shirts in the rocky creek...wringing them and putting them back on still soaking wet for relief.
And the stony steps and sharp rocks seem to have returned.
Yeah...because we were beginning to miss them, right?
Caledonia Park to Pine Furnace Grove on the AT
https://youtu.be/kJT8TJO4UjI
Past the Quarry Gap Shelters
Tour of the Shelter by "Dukie"
https://youtu.be/boBvQD0G3xk
Though Sandy Sod Junction
And past the Birch Run Shelter
Only ten miles from today's destination!
(...I can taste that cold ice cream, already!)
Tom Run Shelters
Which seems to have had a fire mishap...as one of the two shelters is burned down.
And the Actual Mid-point Marker (1090.5 miles) on the trail!!!!!
And everyone is crowded in for a photo...
A moment of celebration at the enormity of making it this far...and the silence of realization that there is STILL this far left to go.
Two miles later we reach Pine Grove!!!!
Pine Grove Furnace State Park
But now we have a date with Ice Cream!!!
Pine Groves General Store...and the Ice Cream Man, himself, Tony Paliometros.
Offering him the Half-Gallon Challenge.
(...Toe Jam did win the challenge...finishing a half-gallon of Moose Tracks...)
"FROZEN" doing the Half-Gallon Challenge
https://youtu.be/NO-McOFvlfg
Kevin Ice Cream Challenge
https://youtu.be/RDNS0iFvkDw
Pi and Laces ICC
https://youtu.be/3q_ATKcVEnc
Loner ICC
https://youtu.be/nm7nghaleI8
Before we head for the Campground and the Showers, though...I hear there is ICE CREAM????
Love,
"Beans"
