More Moose Tracks on the Appalachian Trail

Just got back from another campout at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. In an earlier post, I noted that the park marks the halfway point on the 2,000 mile Appalachian Trail and, after about three months on the trail, hikers would stop at the Park's tiny log cabin store and attempt to eat a half-gallon of ice cream. Though most hikers ate their ice cream at a leisurely pace, the "half gallon challenge" eventually turned into a speed eating contest.

On June 13, four days after my initial visit, someone shattered the four-and-a-half minute mark by downing a half gallon in just two minutes and 37 seconds. (The IFOCE record is 1.75 gallons in 8 minutes by Patrick Bertoletti.) But as insane as that feat may seem, the hiker's friend -- a shaggy haired, scraggly bearded and probably slightly smelly man -- did something even more amazing.

Shaggy ate a half gallon of ice cream and three hot dogs (how long it took is not important). Then he came back about 30 minutes later and did the same thing. About an hour later he returned -- and did it again. Two hours, three half-gallons of ice cream, nine hot dogs. And 1,070 more miles to go.