September 23rd, 2018, Pennsylvania
After a good night’s sleep I hiked the three miles to Green Mountain Store which was just a short distance off of the trail. From the trail itself it was about a ten minute road walk to the store. I picked up about three days of food to get me to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
A couple hours later I entered Pine Grove Furnace State Park. The park stone offers what they call the “Half Gallon Challenge” where you can attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream in 30 minutes. I had already talked myself out of this some time ago. For one thing, even if you complete the challenge, you still pay for the ice cream and they give you a tiny wooden spoon stamped with half gallon challenge on it. I think this is more popular and fun for NOBOs who arrive in groups and egg each other on. As I stood there in the store alone, I didn’t see the point. I ordered a hamburger instead.
The park also hosts an Appalachian Trail museum but it wasn’t open as I passed by.
Then later I passed a marker for the half way point. I made an entry in the log book at the marker. At this point it seems like I started a long time ago…and there is still half the trail to finish!
