Half way done! I reached the Iron Master Mansion Hostel in Pine Grove Furnace State Park by 11:30am, hiking with Rockhound, Hoplite, Einstein, Condor, and Alabama. This is the traditional halfway point of the trail, since the actual trail distance varies year to year.

Rockhound’s mom was there and we decided to have a lazy day.  I like lazy days!

Thru-hiker tradition dictates that we attempt the ½ gallon challenge at this point. That consists of  buying and eating ½ gallon of ice cream as fast as possible. The park store was closed but we were lucky because Rockhound’s mom was there! 30 minutes later we were sitting in front of a ½ gallon of ice cream of our choice, taking pictures.

I never really had chance. My box had 16 servings of 200 calories each. I like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but not that much! I fizzled out with 1/4 gallon remaining and starting to melt in the heat. Rockhound (raspberry) and Hoplite (chocolate) were the only men amongst us boys.

Rockhound took off around 1pm and he’ll be off the trail for 6 days for a family wedding. He’ll have to be hauling butt to catch back up! The rest of us headed over to the hostel next door and ate, read, and watched “Hang ’em High” until we crashed.