McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 10/10/2024 | AT Mile 1092.1 | Day Total: 15.3 miles | Gain: 2450 ft

Slept well last night. It’s a brisk 41 degrees this morning. I’m plenty warm in my tent! The hardest part was getting up and bringing by food bag down from the tree. I made breakfast in my tent with my quilt over my legs. Just as I was breaking down my tent Kill Bill walked by. He’d spent the night in the shelter and we both plan to go to the general store about 7 miles away to do a hiker tradition, the half gallon challenge.

I enjoyed the first few miles of today. Although there was a decent amount of elevation I really enjoyed hiking in the cold and particularly the rocks on the ridge. There were multiple chalk marks on some of the larger rocks left behind from people bouldering.

The 7 miles this morning passed quickly. I made it to PA Route 34 and walked down to the Green Mountain General Store. The traditional place to do the half gallon challenge is at Pine Grove Furnace State Park but they have limited hours during the off season. So sobo’s generally do it here out of convenience.

The half gallon challenge is done once a hiker has reached (or nearly reached) the halfway point on the whole Appalachian Trail. Since 1980 hikers have been challenged to eat a whole half gallon of ice cream. For reference this is a tub plus a pint.

I decided to go with a pint of carmel and a tub of vanilla. They say to choose a plain flavor for the tub as it’ll be easier to stomach.

2480 calories of ice cream? Yeah…
1 hour and 20 minutes? Yup…
2.5lbs? Yes…
You do it? Unfortunately…

I had my puffy jacket on from the beginning and was still a shivering by the end. Not sure if it was from cold or the overdose of sugar kicking in. Either way the cool day was not to my advantage here. Kill Bill polished off his in 50min. I hear that the record is 6 minutes… I’m pretty sure they let it melt and drink it. Crazy!

We sat around for over an hour and after all that sweetness mere craving some salty food. I got a 5 piece chicken tender with fries and stomached that all too. I just ate the calorie equivalent a normal persons food for two days. It disgusts me how much I can eat and still feel hungry.

A gentleman in a van pulled up into the parking lot and offered us some bars and cookies! I couldn’t stomach anything else but he insisted and I took a Rice Krispie treat for later. He’s been driving around the trail in search of hikers to give trail magic!

I left the general store around 2:15. We had been there for over 3 hours. My stomach surprisingly tolerated the ice cream really well (and the chicken tenders). I definitely felt full but was able to hike on just fine this afternoon. A sobo section hiker named Traveler was also took a break at the general store and told us about a hostel about 8 miles away. Which sounded perfect after a day like today.

The miles following the challenge were pretty easy. A steady climb up, followed by a steady climb down to the hostel. Sun was out nearly all day today. No views this afternoon but beautiful weather. I come across multiple of these large craters in the dirt. Not sure what they are/were but they keep appearing on the trail yesterday and today.

The hostel is in Pine Grove State Park next to the traditional half gallon challenge store. Thea a nice mile before it that walks along a road and along the park’s asphalt path to the hostel. There was a gentleman that talked with Kill Bill and I for a while. He mostly asked questions about the trail and would have loved to hike it but “would have to loose weight”.

We checked in at the hostel and I took an amazingly refreshing shower. Relaxed and cooked some dinner. Nice real bed tonight.