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GARDNERS, Pa. (AP) 鈥� Sam Cooper had just trekked 7 miles (11 kilometers) through a rain-sodden stretch of the Appalachian Trail when he sat down outside a little country store in Pennsylvania to take on its ice cream challenge.

Nearly 40 minutes and 2,500 calories later, the dairy farmer from Chapel Hill, Tennessee, was polishing off the final titanium sporkful of chocolate chip cookie dough on Tuesday and adding his name to the list of 鈥渢hru-hikers鈥� who have celebrated the trail’s halfway point by downing a half-gallon of ice cream.

By the end Cooper, 32, whose trail name is Pie Top, was calling the experience 鈥減ure misery.鈥�

鈥淚 don’t think anybody should be doing this,鈥� Cooper said cheerfully. 鈥淭his is not healthy at all.鈥�

The ice cream challenge is thought to have begun more than four decades ago at the Pine Grove Furnace General Store in Gardners, a few miles north of the current true halfway point on the 2,197-mile (3,536-kilometer) trail. Thru-hikers, as they’re known, are the fraction of the trail’s 3 million annual visitors who attempt to walk its entire length in a single, continuous trip.

As they slog their way north through Virginia and Maryland, the ice cream challenge is a regular topic of conversation among thru-hikers at shelters and campfires, said Stephan Berens, 49, a psychiatric nurse from Nuremberg, Germany.

Berens, whose trail name is Speedy, polished off his black cherry and vanilla in about 25 minutes after completing 17 miles (27 kilometers) on the trail that day 鈥� and with seven (11 kilometers) more to go that afternoon.

鈥楾he most free I鈥檝e ever felt’

Trail experts say hikers can need up to 6,000 calories a day, a practical challenge when food needs to be carried up and down rocky terrain. The slender Berens figures he’s lost about 20 pounds (9 kilograms) since starting April 8.

鈥淚 thought it would be worse, but it’s OK,鈥� said Berens, smiling and patting his stomach after finishing the half-gallon. 鈥淪uch a crazy idea.鈥�

Zeke Meddock, trail name Petroglyph, didn’t bother timing himself but finished his choice of a quart and a half carton of chocolate chip cookie dough and a pint of strawberry. The diesel mechanic from North Amarillo, Texas, began his hike on March 27, two months after finishing a stint in the U.S. Army.

鈥淵ou’re basically walking away from life,鈥� said Meddock, 31. 鈥淚t’s the most free I’ve ever felt.鈥�

So far this year, about 50 thru-hikers have finished the challenge, earning the honor of having their photos posted on a store bulletin board. In a notebook to record their thoughts, Chicken Louise wrote on May 24: 鈥淟ife choices?鈥� The next day, Seagull weighed in with, 鈥淚 feel bad,” and Hyena issued a cry for help: 鈥淚t was very fun for the first 15 minutes. Now, I (and my family) want to die.鈥�

The ice cream challenge record, less than 4 minutes, was set two years ago by a man with the trail name Squirt. Two decades ago, the mark to beat was about 9 minutes.

Thru-hikers who want to attempt the record may only allow the $12 worth of ice cream to start to melt in the sun for a few minutes. They must be timed by a store employee.

鈥淚t鈥檚 called the half-gallon challenge,鈥� Cooper said. 鈥淰ery appropriately named.鈥�

Bragging rights and a spoon

Bruce Thomas, a 41-year-old disability support worker from Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada, passed on the ice cream challenge, opting instead for a breakfast sandwich and another one for the road.

鈥淚t’s early morning and I’m pretty sure I cannot do it,鈥� said Thomas, trail name Not Lazy.

Those who do finish in a single sitting are awarded a commemorative wooden spoon 鈥� and bragging rights for the rest of their hike. Some people get sick. Others wash down the ice cream with a hamburger.

The ice cream challenge is one of several quirky traditions and places along the trail. There鈥檚 a shelter in Virginia where hikers confess their sins in a logbook, a two-hole outhouse in Maine with a cribbage board between the seats and a free canoe ferry across the Kennebec River that鈥檚 considered an official part of the trail. And at Harriman State Park in Tuxedo, New York, hikers encounter the renowned 鈥淟emon Squeezer,鈥� a narrow rock formation.

About one in three people who launch a thru hike take the roughly 5 million steps required to go the distance. They most often walk from south to north, starting in Springer Mountain, Georgia, and wrapping up 13 states later at Maine’s Mount Katahdin.

The trek typically takes six months but the current speed record is about 40 days, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Meddock said there’s talk that a man on the trail behind him may be on pace to break it.

There’s also been a lot of discussion among hikers about the extensive damage along the trail in southern states from September’s Hurricane Helene. But mostly they think and talk about walking.

鈥淚t’s always hard,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淚t’s going to be hard. I never think about quitting. I only think about how I can do it.鈥�