May 5, 2016 - Pine Grove Furnace State Park

May 5th 8.8 miles today

Spring at Toms Run Shelter

Ready to hike

Remote Mail on the AT

Crossing a creek

AT follows the road

The Inn at Pine Grove Forest State Park

General Store and Grill
This is where the 1/2 gallon challange takes place. That's where thru-hikers try to eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting. They often throw up a half mile down the trail. The General Store is usually not open this early in the season. However the new owners as of last year were open from 11 to 4. When I walked in the cook offered me a hiker Burger. I asked her what that was and she said it was a cheeseburger with bacon avocado lettuce tomato and a fried egg on top. I told that it was too much for me. I ordered a regular bacon cheeseburger. When it arrived it was on a really soft Bun. It was really good and I'd go back for another. While it was cooking I talked to her husband and he told me about all the businesses he owned and the school lunch programs that he operated. He seems like a genuinely good man trying to feed the kids the best possible Foods and employ as many good people as he could. The owners names were Michele and Tim.

AT Mesuem
The curator of the museum was ordering food at the General Store before I left. The museum is not normally open this time of year except on the weekends. But by chance she was there because construction was going on and she invited me in to tour the museum. I was having a lucky day.

What a shelter originally looked like

Easy walking in the park

After a cold shower, clean and cold
After leaving the museum I passed the facilities for the swimming Lake. I had heard that the bathrooms for the lake had hot showers. Since the doors were unlocked and the showers came on I assumed that the hot water was on too. I ran the water a bit and I thought it was getting warm. But it wasn't so I took a cold shower anyway.

Spring flowers

Nice

Remote Camp site on the trail
As the evening came I had reach the remote camp site that was my goal for the day. There were no other campers around so I camped alone. I forgot to mention that two miles before reaching this remote camp I filled up all of my water containers adding several pounds to my pack. I had to do this since this campsite did not have a spring.