Father's Day with Pigpen ------ 1/2 way!!!

Hammer Time reporting here on my awesome 4 day hike with Pigpen over Father's Day weekend.  I drove up from GA to PA last Wed intending to begin hiking with Dan and Kara on Thur, but some pretty severe storms blew in. I was able to talk Dan into taking a day off and we got a good start on Friday.  It did Kara good to rest and she pretty much slept straight through 36 hours.

We started at the PA line on Friday, which was mile point 1059.6 in Dan's hike.  We made it to Boiling Springs, PA at mile point 1116.9 on Monday.  14 miles per day is 6-8 miles less than Dan likes to do, but like before, he was a good sport and hiked down to my pace.  He's hiked 44 miles in the 2 days since I left, but hey -  he's 23 years old!  As of tonight, he's close to mile point 1160 and has about 1025 to go.

We passed the official half way point on Father's Day and we both participated in the half gallon challenge.  Even though I'm just a section hiker, who can pass up a legitimate chance to try and eat a half gallon of ice cream.  Lucky for me the carton sizes have shrunk and now the "1/2 gallons" are only 1.5 quarts actually, but who's counting.  I thought for sure the ice cream thing would be my chance to show Dan who's boss, but he smoked me there too.  He finished his in 21 minutes and felt great.  I took 25 and had to lay down for about an hour.  As it turned out, ice cream to me must be like spinach to Popeye because we made 17 miles that day, the most I've ever done.

We had some great views, saw a couple of snakes, hiked rock mazes and cornfields, but best of all was hiking with my son and his dog - trying to burn the days into my memory while he's on his grand adventure.  I brought Kara home for good this time.  She was good company for Dan for 1/2 the way, but now it's time for her to rest.

Here's some pic's from the 4 days:

Resting on the Rain Day

Start of the 4 day section

Mason Dixon Line

Rattler crossing the trail

Lunch stop on Day 1

Kara can sleep anywhere

Black Snake coiled up shaking its tail imitating a rattle snake

Beautiful Ferns

Not wrestling - sleeping

Quarry Gap Shelter - nicest one on the trail so far

"Official" half way sign although the mileage is wrong and its in the wrong place since the trail length changes each year

Half Gallon Challenge!

Pine Grove Furnace Store - Home of the Half Gallon Challenge

Kara jumping over a log

Trail going through the Rock Maze

Center Point Knob - site of the original half way point

Old Tricycle in woods -  who knows?

Trail going through middle of cornfields

Blister actually looks better here

Kara slept about 9:55 of the 10 hour ride home !