6/14/18 Day 326 AT Day 88: Tom’s Run Shelter to Alec Kennedy Shelter and halfway done with the AT!!!

Miles: 21.2 Steps: 43,405 Elevation Gain: 2,860 feet Another truly amazing day! Woke up and passed the midway point for the AT almost immediately. There’s a monument, it’s not at the real midway point, but it’s fun and I took photos. A few miles in there’s a park with a store and an AT museum nearby. The store is famous for the half-gallon challenge, where hikers attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream. I tried and I failed. I ate like 3/4 of a half gallon, which I’m fine with. I watched others crush the ice cream in various fashions. Pretty amusing, ended up hanging out there for a few hours. The museum was pretty cool as well! Next up was swimming. Murph and I were going to go to the public beach, but there were a lot of people there and we didn’t want to stink them out too bad with our thru hiker grossness. We walked down a large stream quite a ways and chose a nice spot to swim. The water was brrrrr cold, but it was sunny and felt great to clean off a bit. Next up was some hiking, then a great 2 hour lunch break amidst the shade and breeze. Really an awesome time, then more hiking and even a few minutes of night hiking for good measure. I didn’t describe it too well, but today really was amazing. Going to bed now listening to the sounds of a stream about to enter the world of a dream.