July 1

"Oh, oh, we're half way there....whoa oh, livin' on a prayer"

Got a decent start this morning.  Out of bed, packed up, and hiking by 8:30.  Well, decent by our standards at least.  Nice easy hiking.  A little bit hotter today though.  Crossed several gravel roads.  At one, there was a sign as you got back into the woods on the AT, "No Snowmobiles".  Kind of funny.  Just after a PATC (Potomac Appalachian Trail Club) cabin, there was a really pretty section with pine trees all around.  Starting to see some rhododendrons in places too.  I've been missing my evergreens.  We made it in to Birch Run shelters for and early lunch by 11:15am.  More easy hiking.  Everyone else got ahead of me, so I was hiking alone for most of the afternoon.  Taking my time, and enjoying things, I stopped to pick some delicious blueberries on the trail.  I caught up with everyone at the Toms Run shelters.  In looking at the guidebook, 0.1 miles back was the statistical halfway point of the trail this year.  I went back to this little footbridge that crossed a stream, and wrote in pebbles "GA 1092 >" for the southbounders, and "ME 1092 >" for the northbounders.  We all hiked out together and made it to Pine Grove Furnace State Park.  We took a break at the general store.  We've been waiting a long time for this break.  This is were thru hikers partake in the "half-gallon challenge".  The store had Bryer's.  Yum.  I strategically chose the mixed variety of strawberry/chocolate/vanilla.  I figured that way I wouldn't get sick of any one flavor.  It was a good choice. I finished off my box of ice cream first, in under 20 minutes.  Still hungry, I went back inside and ordered a cheeseburger and a Coke for dessert.  Haha.  I am now the proud owner of a little wooden spoon that reads - "half gallon club".  Another cool thing about our break there, was getting to meet "White Lightning".  He is a 2012 thru hiker, with the distinction of being the first one to finish a NoBo hike this year.  He started in February, and finished about 3 months later on May 26.  Crazy.  Awesome.  Totally stuffed we hiked on.  Camping is not allowed in the park, so we walked out, past the lake.  We crossed a gravel road that delineated the park boundary, and made camp about 30 yards outside of the park.  19 mile day.  Half way done with the AT.  From this point on, Springer will be farther away than Katahdin.  Bittersweet.

Half way there!