6/08/06 Thursday: Pine Grove Furnace to US11 Footbridge (27.6mi)

PICTURES:
1. Thats Junker in the middle with the two section hikers that stayed the night.
2. Posing on at the halfway point of the AT, the front porch of the Hostel
3. An old furnace at the Pine Grove State Park where the Park gets its name...
4&5. Trails were pretty nice throught the park today...
6.toughest climb of the day was this 500" hill, pretty steep but not bad just the same...
7. The afternoon found me walking throught rolling farmlands for miles...
8. Encountered trail majic about 1 hour before arriving at the footbridge and the Super8 hotel for the night.

We got a rather late start, taking some time to get some bfast sandwitches at the park store before we all started again... Junker also mentioned that the new official halfway point was the front porch of the hostel...so we all had to go up there and get our pics taken in front of the sign... By 0945 we all said our good byes and headed on our trek north... Ed and Joe, although they did not start together, were companions now but did hike a bit slower than me... By 1345 I had covered 10mi and stopped on the top of an unnamed hill with a nice view for lunch... I had a lot of ground to cover to make it to the Super 8 motel tonightm but the ground was flat and the walking would be at better than 3mph after I would get off this hill...LOL... I stopped into the Boiling Springs,PA ATC offices at 1700, after completing another 9 miles and got a hogie at a nearby convenience store...:)... I didnt stay long, and within 30min I was again off for the last 8mi of the day into the super 8... About 4 miles out of Boiling Springs I encountered some Trail Majic...:)... and indulged myself before continuing on to my final destination...I arrived at the Super 8 at 2000, it was about .4mi west of the trail but worth the price for the night... I walked across the street for dinner about 2200 at an all night diner and had a large cobb salad...it was great...:)... After that I was ready for bed...