The 35 mile “One State Challenge”
(It’s like the four state challenge but it’s only one state so its the one state challenge)
After leaving Harper’s Ferry, we were feeling very slow and overheated so we only went 6 miles to an insanely nice shelter. There was an upstairs and laminated floors! When Sleepy and Cookie were there (the Dutch couple we have now been spending a lot of time with), we decided to sleep in the shelter. This was our first time sleeping in the shelter in over a month due to our fear of norovirus. We are feeling safer now, but we will always be on alert until Maine. I think everyone else is taking it seriously now too, we see a lot more people washing their hands then we ever did before.
Walking across the bridge leaving Harper’s Ferry
Holy moly we still have a long way to go
The next day was Strider’s birthday! It is our tradition now to push big miles on our birthday and since we pushed 28 for mine, we had to go bigger. We woke up at 5 am, birds already chirping and packed up to go. We were on the road around 6:30 am and the air was muggy and thick. The miles flowed by beneath us, we were both feeling very strong and excited to see how far we could go in the hours of daylight ahead of us. The weather was so lovely, not too hot and the morning humidity wore away in the summer breeze.
Crossing through monuments in Maryland
We saw no thru hikers this day, only day hikers. We have noticed that we are in another section between bubbles, our Shenny crew getting split up since we all took zeroes at different spots. Typical AT life for us. My friend who has hiked before informed us that 400 is incredibly low for Harper’s Ferry at the beginning of June. We were numbers 417+418. I feel lucky though because the amount of people on trail this year has been quite lovely, social when you want it but not overbearing. We stopped for lunch at 18 miles, and decided to push to the Mason Dixon Line which was 17 miles away. Crazy, but we thought a shower and pizza would be worth it.
Crossing I70! A big deal for us Colorado people
Annapolis Rocks – our friend took a photo for the AT stamps here and we needed to check them out. So nice!!!
I am a hypocrite as I write this because we ripped on some of our friends who wanted to try the infamous 4-state challenge, hiking >40 miles from VA-WV-MD-PA, and I said don’t do that. Maryland is beautiful and Harper’s Ferry is awesome! Don’t rush it! And here we are speeding through Maryland. However, we did take time to read about all the battlegrounds and took more breaks then I thought. We felt strong and the beauty of having trail legs is the ability to hike longer, faster.
Trail starting to get rocky
We ended up doing 35.4 AT miles, our Strava clocking 39 including side trips to the Annapolis Rocks and walking around the battlegrounds. I was skipping down to the Mason Dixon line, so proud of us, so excited to sleep in a bed. My legs were tired but we were both so happy. Soolah picked us up at 8:30 pm and drove us to her legit fairy cottage in town. We got pizza and showered. I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
A picture of Soolah’s backyard. This house really felt like a place that fairies would stay
Maybe the best pizza I’ve ever had in my life
I’m finally up north!!! Appa-lay-chain!!
The Half Gallon Challenge
I wasn’t even going to try the half gallon of ice cream challenge. But Energizer emphasized the importance. He said, “You don’t have to finish, you just need to try.” Energizer is a triple crowner, now hiking the trail with his son, and the rule out here is anything a triple crowner says is basically law. So, I did some research. I realized that the half gallon challenge a big deal in AT culture. So is the Harpers Ferry halfway picture. These are traditions that have been happening for over 50 years. I am now part of traditions that have been laid in place, and I must respect the ground I walk on to truly claim the name, “hiker trash.”
Hikers in 1983 doing the half gallon challenge
I found this so crazy in the museum… thinking about hiking the trail in the 30s or 40s blows my mind.
So, I not only hyped myself up to eat a half gallon of ice cream, but also everyone hiking around us. We rolled into the store that sells it and checked into the mansion hostel. I looked forward to laying down once this challenge was complete. To my dismay, when I saw some hikers eating their ice cream already, they were eating a tub of ice cream AND an additional pint. What??? I was just prepped to eat the tub. Apparently, the pint and tub are a proper half gallon. Damn. That’s a LOT of ice cream.
So full of hope and excitement…
We waited for Sleepy and Cookie to arrive and then commenced. I was wicked hungry so I thought it wasn’t going to be that bad. My flavor choices – cookie dough tub and a pint of black cherry. Some guys who finished the challenge prior to us, Fuji and Just Ray, were coaching us. “Let them melt a bit but not all the way,” they encouraged. We were chugging along and it truly felt like I was living a childhood dream. Not only do I get to eat ice cream for dinner, it was actually encouraged!
It was fun for about 20 minutes, until I made it about halfway through the tub. I was shaking cause it was making me so cold. Looking back on it, this is where I should have thrown in the towel. But Strider was confident on finishing and my competitive self had to do it too. I made it through the tub when Strider finished his final pint at 54 minutes. This seemed fast to me, Sleepy, and Cookie. However, Just Ray completed it in 10 minutes!!! He didn’t even let it melt. Just took it on the chin.
When I was nearing the finish, a 15 year old kid started the challenge with his parents. He barely got through the first half of the tub before calling it. Saying to us, “You guys are literally crazy.” He was right as I was suffering at this point and my pint was melted enough where I could just drink it and chew a bit. I thought to myself, “Well I already feel awful, I might as well feel awful and finish.” I completed it while everyone cheered. Then I sat at the table, hating my life. I felt so sick, so disgusting, but so proud of myself. After about 10 minutes of watching Sleepy trying to finish his, I made a quick trip to the bathroom where I yakked all of the cherry foam up. I immediately felt a million times better! I came out skipping!
Hated my life and choices at this point
Sleepy then saw how happy I was and finished. He later told me that his encouragement to finish the challenge was me throwing up. This was actually the funniest thing I have ever heard. My reward? For eating way more then my stomach could hold? A small wooden spoon that says “Half Gallon Club.” I also got to add my picture to the wall of finishers. I felt pretty proud of myself, especially because I only counted 3 other women that finished this year.
A screenshot of my video of when Sleepy finished
All worth it for a wooden spoon and a picture on the wall, right? RIGHT?
So what’s harder?
As we were eating, Fuji said something very interesting. He told us that he thinks the Half Gallon Challenge is actually a metaphor for the AT. Doing something painful and miserable, but pushing through because you know in your gut that you have to. Perhaps this is mildly true.
I have been told that the first third of the trail is physical. The second third is mental. And the third is spiritual. Now as we are a good chunk into the mental section I definitely understand what Fugi was talking about. Doing the same day over and over and over can get you in your head. Seeing all my friends and family hanging out for summer is making me have FOMO. Watching my little sister graduate college and not being there made me so sad. Life continues on while I continue walking through the country. Of course it does! I knew that signing up.
However, if you can believe me, I learned a lot about myself from eating a half gallon of ice cream. I can do uncomfortable things. I can and will complete them if I truly put my mind over matter.
I also learned eating a lot of ice cream is much harder than hiking 35 miles in a day.
Half way!
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