Half gallon ice cram challenge

[Trail]

Here's an interesting article about the half gallon ice cream challenge at pine grove state park, PA. It was in the local paper in harrisburg. Any good ice cream stories from previous thru hikers? Any trouble keeping the ice cream down?

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/06/appalachian_trail_hikers_face.html

[MommaDuck]

That's awesome! Portrait was just journaling about this interview. Great to see the article. Gets me excited for my upcoming thru attempt March '12. I'll keep practicing my ice cream eating skills in the mean time.

[Spirit Walker]

When I ate my half gallon I was talking to some people as I ate and so didn't really feel the amount I was eating until I stood up to go - then it all hit bottom at once. I could barely walk! It was about three years before I could eat that flavor again.

My husband, OTOH, ate his half gallon, went over to the hostel where he ate three plates of linguini with clam sauce, and went to bed thinking about where he could get more ice cream.

[WingedMonkey]

Didn't even try. Don't think I ate more than a pint anywhere on the trail

[Tuckahoe64]

Lets be honest... is it a real half gallon?

[Toolshed]

Don't need to be anywhere near the damn trail to eat a half gallon of ice cream..... :D

[aaronthebugbuffet]

Don't need to be anywhere near the damn trail to eat a half gallon of ice cream..... :D

I was just thinking the other day that if I could eat with total disregard for my health, I would just eat ice cream for every meal.

[atraildreamer]

Lets be honest... is it a real half gallon?


Just got a "half-gallon" of ice cream at Aldi's. Seems the 64 ounce package is now 56 ounces...same price, though. :-? Ditto on mayonaise...the 32 ounce quart jar is now 30 ounces. :( Seems like a lot of places are sneaking in price increases through reduction of product sizes/servings. Don't know about the size of the ice cream challenge container. :confused:

[mweinstone]

i watch and wait for the look that comes on the face of the motovated yet skinney hiker as he nears the finnal spoonsworth. their are 3 looks. the look of normal, witch means pukeing is a spoonfull away, the look of distress, witch means they will be praying to puke but will be cursed and have the load of hurt in their gut for quite some time. these are the folks who go around asking if anyone knows a good way to puke. but they can never summon the finge courage. and finnaly, there is that look of "what?", and the subsequent neat folding of the carton after the drinking of the last shot of melt, the licking of the spoon,....and a simple,.." anyone wanna make dinner now?" these last....are the champs. they practice offseason from youth. they need no big stomach. they have no fear. they summon no exspression. their ice cream machines. and they wont stop. ever. until its dead!

[malowitz]

Just got a "half-gallon" of ice cream at Aldi's. Seems the 64 ounce package is now 56 ounces...same price, though. :-? Ditto on mayonaise...the 32 ounce quart jar is now 30 ounces. :( Seems like a lot of places are sneaking in price increases through reduction of product sizes/servings. Don't know about the size of the ice cream challenge container. :confused:


Lets be honest... is it a real half gallon?

I believe Hershey's is the only major manufacturer who has maintained the true 1/2 gallon size. And Hershey's is all they sell at Pine Grove Furnace.

[-SEEKER-]

There was a different article about the 1/2 gallon challenge in today's paper all the way over here in Cincinnati, OH.

[Skid.]

Lets be honest... is it a real half gallon?


YES! It's Hershey's, and I like to think they have kept the real half gallon just for this ritual, since the halfway point is, after all, in Pennsylvania.

[mweinstone]

we have a member of the hearshy family in our ranks. shes very high up. a ceo of marketing i belive. and shes nice. really really nice. im sure we can have lots of contact with her if we would simply keep her up to date on the dates of the duncanon hiker feed.she once donated so frikkin much chocolate it wasnt funny at all. it actually caused a work party to need to cleean up the tons and tons of extra chocolate bars into trashbags so they could be recycled at a northernmore feed. she came to the doyal and walked around the park quick, and veiwed my art in rm 23! but then she had to leave. her contact within our ranks is a woman hiker about 35. cant remember her name but i belive shes from pa. the ceo from hershys was a hiker in her soul and was very very cool. we need her back. havent seen her for a couple 3 years. mary might know her name or we could shoot them a general inquirery. in any event she was full of ideas and wanted to be a part of hikerdom. shes actually related to the hersheys.

[mweinstone]

they are the only ones i belive keeping it tru. but maby im wrong and we can change that. or, maby they kept it a half after the industry went rip off so they have a connection with us. if thats the case, we could further that connection or at least nurture it. might be just a cool fact of americana we add to the museums info boards. might be the beginning of something big. if they put the trail and trail photos and info on their boxes, folks might buy alot more. especialy if it helped trail orgs funding. it could raise their share signifigantly to have an educational marketing program of this sort based on the halway chalange and the challange to clean the enviroment. they could go green with the profits. i think big. sorry. of course ill want to hike on their tab the rest of my life giving out cupons for free ice cream to every single hiker i can get one to. and ill require my own dog and my own specialy configured dry ice pack with dry ice support teams at all crossings. in return, ill talk up your ice cream a little . but know this, i dont eat it. lactard. severe fart warnings in your area till 9 pm.

[mweinstone]

oh, and im not carrying any ice cream. the dry ice pack and support teams are for bacon. so youll need to start by makeing a bacon flavor named like,"macon county bacon" for georgia, and then a bacon flavor for each state. i will accept no road support other than dry ice resuply. my bacon is no mans to shop for. it is a ritual not unakin to an indian shooting an arrow over the catus capuring its flowers souls before gathering them to eat. its that serious.

[Tenderheart]

There was a different article about the 1/2 gallon challenge in today's paper all the way over here in Cincinnati, OH.

Yes, the article made it to our local paper as well. I ate banana split flavor in 2000 and it was a true 1/2 gallon. Took me 24 minutes. I skipped breakfast that morning just to make room. I don't remember any ill effects, but then ice cream is one of my specialities. I loaned a guy the money to buy his half gallon, and his eyes glassed over about half way through the endeavor. Needless to say, I never got my $6.00 back. I heard that another hiker, Diamond Doug, ate his in 15 minutes.

[Kerosene]

Such an appropriate title: Half Gallon Ice Cram Challenge, which I assume is what you end up doing to shovel in that last half-pint!

[WingedMonkey]

Just for the fun of facts, Hershey Ice Cream was a different family and not the Milton Hershey one that started the chocolate business. They are based in Harrisburg Pennsylvania though.

[Dogwood]

Any good ice cream stories from previous thru hikers? Any trouble keeping the ice cream down? -Trail

It's a trail tradition for some! I suppose it creates some lasting memories. My memories were created by watching other thru-hikers attempt this and the events that followed! It's nice to stop outside the Pine Grove store and sit down to some extra food in a nice setting.

It's kind of a tradition like those who don't shave the whole trail and then measure their beards at the end of the trail to see who has grown the longest whiskers and wins the agreed upon bet or placing something heavy like a rairoad spike or rock into another thru-hiker's pack. When the heavy object is detected that thru-hiker continues the tradition by surreptiously placing the object into someone else's pack.

I have seen the ice cream challenge done(attempted) three times. One thru-hiker who had opted for vanilla fudge swirl was starting to scrape the bottom of the container when he suddenly stood up and the volcano erupted spewing gooey white colored lava. Looked like thick burnt curdled spilled milk with partially digested brightly colored M & M's(part of his trail mix) as floaties in the white lava. Not a pretty sight or particularly fragrant aroma! As I think about it now, it kind of resembled a snow covered Christmas tree drapped in brightly lit Christmas lights!

Two other thru-hikers, one, a buddy who I was hiking with, did manage to scarf down their half gallons. One had opted for strawberry or something pink colored. I knew that because I witnessed the remains of it down the trail a few miles. Looked like a decomposing road pizza with pepperoni topping. He was gnoshing pepperoni as a trail snack earlier that day. Flies and bees were haviing a feast! Heard about that spill from several other thru-hikers later who were hiking a couple of days behind me. They said it was one of the worst things they had ever smelled.

My buddy, who went against the advice of his GF and me, who kept barking, "but I need the calories", was sick for two days, even having to cut one of his hiking days short because of nausea and diarreha.

I simply ate two frozen fruit bars which were enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.

[Dogwood]

Matty, your post #9 describes the various looks on their faces so well!

[weary]

Lets be honest... is it a real half gallon?
If it isn't the dairy cheated.

[malowitz]

http://hersheyicecream.com/SellHIC/retail_supermarkets.html

Still a true half-gallon.

[mweinstone]

didnt realize hersheys chocolate was different. well, we have met the chocolate lady from hershes. can we maby meet the other hershys people from the icecream company and ask if they want us to eat their ice cream at the duncannon hiker feed in july?maby they would let us do a challenge.with free stuff. like shirts to hike in. i know their watching. come on marketing. get up, walk ver to the boss and interupt her. tell the boss the hikers want to add the half gallon challenge to the ten state challenge witch is a game bag o tricks sets up for us at the fourth of july feed in duncannon. it is a bunch of current thruhikers that have to race a course of havoc. each "state" has a challenge. like getting in and out of your bag. or running a gauntlet of water ballons, or climbing the hill in the park we use to simulate katahdin. if we could have PA be represented for something other than being hot dry and rocky, well, it would be nice to have a rocky road challenge if you get my drift. my name is mattheski. im the idiot of this group. you may do with my idea as you wish. but in this hikers hikenation,i imagine a world full of contact between your ice cream and hikerdom. i see faces on boxes. i see a giant tower rising far into the sky above the new AT museum, it says hershy and attracts millions. i see shirts hikers hike in that show a box of ice cream. i see reps from hershys at traildays and i see a gold stamp on your box that says "official ice cream of the appalachian trail" i see it all.

[Enic]

Lets be honest... is it a real half gallon?

Yes, since Hershey's Ice Cream is sold in the park, it is a real half gallon. One of the few companies to keep the size constant...

[Hoop Time]

The reason so many saw the story in their local papers is because it was an AP story.

Here is one I did a few years ago on the Half Gallon Challenge -- http://www.hooptimeonline.com/courogen/pages/halfgallon.html