Pine Grove Furnace

6/25 ~ Ironmaster's Mansion Hostel (3.7 miles hiked)

For my first experience with a hostel, this was a good choice. Of course, I haven't tried to sleep in this dorm room yet.

People at hostels seem to share some quality with thruhikers, so it's a good match. I think we're all giving up privacy and solitude in seeking adventure. Or maybe we're all just cheap bastards.

I got my best sleep yet at Tom's Run. I fell asleep while it was still light out, and when I woke up after dark, and I just rolled over and left my contacts in. I'm using a polar fleece blanket bag. It has a double zipper and a nylon shell. It seems to be acting as a vapor barrier and making me cold when the temperature hits the dewpoint in the early am hours. In any case, I think it's warmed up now, based on last night. That was the first night I didn't wake up chilled and need to put more clothes on before I could go back to sleep.

For my entertainment today, I sat at the Pine Grove Furnace General Store and watched people attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream to get their spoon. I do love ice cream, but I thought that was beyond my ability to enjoy it. I saw Bagel and PA Mule eat theirs. I really thought Bagel would lose it -- she looked seriously ill. I watched David get his 'Picture of Failure' Picture. Pace, Chicago, Second Wind and Muledozer managed to get it all down. So did Stretch, but at some point, he had to "go be by himself" with the final pint to finish it off. I didn't see how Court Dog finished up, but I suspect he did it. We all decided that the PGFGS invented the 1/2 gallon challenge to sell ice cream (it's a roughly the half-way point on the trail). They even got a Hershey Ice Cream delivery today. I have to say that it was all pretty fun. Everyone just sat there for the whole afternoon (it got pretty hot today) and BS'd the day away.

Tino will meet me in Boiling Springs tomorrow enabling me to slack 18.3 miles there tomorrow. He will also bring me a maildrop to make sure that I GET THIS ONE. Also, I need to swap out my thermarest and sit pad for my ridge rest. As expected, I still don't like the damn thermarest, no matter how much I try to convince myself that I do like it. I haven't really swapped out any other gear. I'm very happy with the Esbit stove, and I'm going to stick with the aforementioned bag for now. I did send back half my clothes at Harper's Ferry, however, which gave me more room in my backpack. I also need to decide which AT guides I really need. I'm carrying the AT companion and Wingfoot's book from 1998 (I've removed the southern portions to make them lighter), and I use both of them in slightly different ways. If I had maps, I think I'd be better able to figure out what I really need.

I'm swapping out my Esbit for the MSR when I run out of fuel for the Esbit. I think I'll also be swapping a Zippo for the disposable lighter once I change the stoves out. I just found out (from Baltimore Jack) that the Zippo will run just fine on white gas, which is what the MSR runs on. Actually, the MSR will also take unleaded gasoline, as will the Zippo.