While we are packing up this morning, another hiker walks by. It is 'Beaverchief'. We have met him before, he was walking at night with a friend who had a large white husky to escape the heat. We ask him if he is going to compete in the 'half-gallon ice-cream challenge' at Pine Grove. He says he can't afford to buy ice-cream. So we (Stickbuilt) gives him $5 so that he can compete on our behalf. This is a very famous challenge on the AT - eat half a gallon and then most are violently vomitous.
This morning we approach the actual half way point, but we don't know where it is exactly. Last years half way marker has a sign on it. There is nothing marked for this year. Each year the trail gets longer as there are more and more upgrades done to steep inclines and zig zags are inserted.
We get to Pine Grove shop and there is Gene waiting for his wife to pick him up to go home and Beaverchief (his walking stick has been gnawed by a beaver) eating his half gallon of ice-cream. He succeeds. We eat a burger and chips, visit the AT museum and wait for Sandy. We decide to go to the nearby town of Mt Holly Springs and stay at a motel there, as they will give us a ride back to the trail tomorrow morning. When Sandy arrives we depart for Mt Holly Springs and have lunch at the tavern. This is where Stickbuilt finishes his walk with us and we say goodbye. We watch the weather channel and see 5 days coming all over 90 deg F.We have dinner in the tavern restaurant and a lady at the table next to us complains to the chef that there is too much bread in the crabcakes and not enough crab. We didnt order crabcakes so we can't make a judgement.
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