Day 104

Weather:
Sunny & warm, high around 78 degrees.
Small evening thunder shower.

Today's Hike:
Camping to Pine Grove Furnace St. Park - 19.0 miles

Today was amazing! We knew we had a longer mile day ahead of us so we were all awake by 6am and on the trail around 7am. The hike for the first 10 miles was beautiful; open pine forests and a fern covered forest floor. The trail wasn't too rocky and the hike was relatively flat. I reached a shelter around 11am and stopped to rest my feet. Twenty minutes later Billy Hoot arrived and told me there was trail magic at the parking lot 1.3 miles up the trail. I was off! Twenty minutes later I was in the parking lot with a coke in one hand and a cold slice of watermelon in the other, thanks to Pacer and Peanut who completed a thru-hike last year. Pacer was also kind enough to grill me up a fantastic veggie burger. Heaven in my mouth :) Around 2pm ourselves along with the Divas and GA Girls managed to pull ourselves away from the magic and get back onto the trail.

About two miles up the trail we heard the Divas shrieking like little girls and the faint exclamations announcing the presence of a rattlesnake. Muster and I rushed to catch up, and were able to catch sight of the 3 ft. timber rattlesnake that was coiled up underneath a laurel oak along the side of the trail. To cool.

The hike continued another 4.5 miles to the official halfway point, 1,098 miles. Wahoo!!! We all took some group photos, then started to get geared up for the half gallon challenge that would be taking place 3.7 miles up the trail at Pine Grove Furnace St. Park. The half-gallon challenge consists of thru-hikers trying to consume a 1/2 gallon of ice cream. To make things a little more interesting we also made it a competition between team condiments (just me), the Diva's (Grommet and Storm), and the GA Girls.

When we arrived at the parks general store options for ice cream flavors were limited; vanilla or banana split, neither of which were appealing. I grabbed a box a vanilla and headed out to the porch with the rest of the girls. Less then 45 minutes later Billy Hoot (Team GA Girls), who was completely blue in the lips, had consumed her entire half gallon. A little more then an hour later Lil' Dipper (team GA Girls) also finished her half gallon along with Grommet (team Divas). Meanwhile I was doing horribly at consuming my ice cream. After about one third of the way through just the smell of it was making me want to throw up. I finally threw in the spoon and swapped my ice cream for a grill cheese sandwich and french fries. Consuming a halfgallon of ice cream will not be on my list of accomplishments.

After dinner, Muster did our laundry and we were able to shower at the campground. Getting clean is always fantastic. We finally turned in at 11pm, hoping that tomorrow will be just as wonderful as today.