Slackpacking

[Tipi Walter]

First World problem.

Why in bloody blazes do you care how somebody else hikes, and how on Earth does it diminish your hike? What if somebody carries an 18lb pack and you carry 38lb...? Are you somehow more 'worthy' for having suffered more?

Good grief.

He only asked about our thoughts and opinions on Slackpacking. Sort of like an online survey. Some people support and enjoy slackpacking, others don't. Personally I would never want to slackpack cuz my whole intention is to be in the woods and stay in the woods without interruption for as long as possible. So I answered his question. Would slackpacking diminish my hike?? Yes it would. Maybe John Q Public loves to slackpack---let him add his thoughts. It's not a competition.

[gpburdelljr]

In the various books and journals I’ve read on through hiking many mention slack packing, but none mention regretting doing it. Maybe only people with OCD worry about only doing things one way.

[cmoulder]

He only asked about our thoughts and opinions on Slackpacking. Sort of like an online survey. Some people support and enjoy slackpacking, others don't. Personally I would never want to slackpack cuz my whole intention is to be in the woods and stay in the woods without interruption for as long as possible. So I answered his question. Would slackpacking diminish my hike?? Yes it would. Maybe John Q Public loves to slackpack---let him add his thoughts. It's not a competition.

No. What he said a couple of posts down is

Good question. I guess it would bother me if they claim to be a thru-hiker without the caveat to others that they slacked. Similar would be a home-runner slugger who covertly used steroids to boost his stats. It diminishes the achievements of full-packers.

So he's saying that how somebody else chooses to hike his/her hike diminishes how he hikes his hike. Really? I seriously want to know, How?

[Tipi Walter]

No. What he said a couple of posts down is
So he's saying that how somebody else chooses to hike his/her hike diminishes how he hikes his hike. Really? I seriously want to know, How?

Maybe it's like wearing the Ranger Tab without actually attending Ranger School???

[CalebJ]

Sure, if Ranger School was an imaginary club where you got to decide who else qualified (even though they weren't trying to join -your- club).

[Tipi Walter]

Sure, if Ranger School was an imaginary club where you got to decide who else qualified (even though they weren't trying to join -your- club).

The "imaginary club" would be those who strive to thruhike the AT and fill out the ATC 2,000 Miler application to receive the certificate and 2,000 Miler "rocker" patch (rocker sounds like a Tab to me). The ATC operates on an honor system (unlike Ranger School)---so I guess anyone could fudge the numbers or the hike to receive the "tab".

[Daybreak]

Define a full-packer. In your context shouldn't one spend no nights in town? Can they change gear with the seasons or should they carry cold weather clothes/bag... all summer. Do full-packers resupply? How many nights/resupplies are okay? On the AT one can easily carry all of their gear yet spend every night in town and have a lower weight than many slack packers. Should you be able to even hitch to town.

We can get absurd which brings me to Abner Serd. He hiked from AZ to Katahdin in the usual way except he did not hitch or ride in a vehicle except where crossing the Mississippi River. Poor planning. I doubt he made his own clothes and he left Baxter in a vehicle. Then there is Wyoming Skateboard. The list is long. Every person's hike is different. There is no sound bite achievement. It is all in the details, the criteria, and the judge.

When the AT topic comes up in the real world (whatever that is}, I hear from many people who say they have the hiked the AT and excitedly I ask when or what year. They happily describe their one day hike. I smile and leave it at that.

[cmoulder]

Maybe it's like wearing the Ranger Tab without actually attending Ranger School???

I don't give a rodent's derriere about that, either. People wear all sorts of logos and badges for things with which they don't have the remotest association. I see people wearing hats with the instantly-recognizable initials for the LE bureau that employed me for 30 years, but I haven't the least compulsion to call them out. Why would I?

People also wear all manner of patches to advertise their hiking achievements. Did they actually do it? Who's going to grill them about it? If you found out they were wearing a patch but didn't actually do the hike—or did it in a way that doesn't meet your standards—would it somehow diminish it for you?

To me, this falls under the scope of what my dear Mother used to call "other people's beeswax."

[CalebJ]

The "imaginary club" would be those who strive to thruhike the AT and fill out the ATC 2,000 Miler application to receive the certificate and 2,000 Miler "rocker" patch (rocker sounds like a Tab to me). The ATC operates on an honor system (unlike Ranger School)---so I guess anyone could fudge the numbers or the hike to receive the "tab".

Um...

You made that up.

The ATC doesn't care one whit whether you carry a backpack or dayhike the trail.

There's nothing 'honor system' about what you have on your back as you walk the trail.

[Tipi Walter]

Define a full-packer. In your context shouldn't one spend no nights in town? Can they change gear with the seasons or should they carry cold weather clothes/bag... all summer. Do full-packers resupply? How many nights/resupplies are okay? On the AT one can easily carry all of their gear yet spend every night in town and have a lower weight than many slack packers. Should you be able to even hitch to town.

We can get absurd which brings me to Abner Serd. He hiked from AZ to Katahdin in the usual way except he did not hitch or ride in a vehicle except where crossing the Mississippi River. Poor planning. I doubt he made his own clothes and he left Baxter in a vehicle. Then there is Wyoming Skateboard. The list is long. Every person's hike is different. There is no sound bite achievement. It is all in the details, the criteria, and the judge.

When the AT topic comes up in the real world (whatever that is}, I hear from many people who say they have the hiked the AT and excitedly I ask when or what year. They happily describe their one day hike. I smile and leave it at that.

For over 70 years AT thruhikers have pretty much defined a Thru Hike and readily agreed on the definition of a Thru Hike. Read thru written accounts from the 1950s and 1960s and 1970s and you'll find a consensus on how these backpackers achieved their goal. There's isn't alot of talk about slackpacking in those days.

When Earl Shaffer finished his 1948 thruhike the ATC performed thusly---

"Earl’s claim to have hiked the entire Appalachian Trail received careful scrutiny, particularly by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) whose members had the most intimate knowledge of the Trail. After careful consideration of Earl’s documentation and other evidence, he was officially recognized by the ATC as the first person to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail without interruption. "

Maybe there's a recent phenomenon in 2021 to pull an AT thruhike which achieves the patch and recognition without the "careful consideration of documentation and other evidence" the ATC directed at Earl Shaffer.

I am not a stickler or judgmental about backpackers and their sport---we engage in whatever way will support our temperament. Want to carry a tuba? Want to hike barefoot? What to dayhike only and sleep indoors? Want to carry a 140 lb pack and resupply every 40 days?

But I think historically there's a definition of what constitutes a backpacker pulling an Appalachian Trail thruhike. Read the literature.

[Tipi Walter]

More interesting posts here---a volatile subject---

https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...-Slack-Packing

https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...ing-quot-count

https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...vs-Backpackers

https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...f-a-Thru-Hiker

[cmoulder]

Same discussion, ad nauseum. The whole "enjoying the wilderness incorrectly" assertions all over again.

You either care—for whatever strange reason(s) that nobody has yet explained—or you don't.

So for some HYOH is a meaningless platitude. What else is new? LOL

[Tipi Walter]

Oh and one more thing. Step back from the drama and study the word itself---Slack Packing. Then define "Slack"---
Dictionary.com---Negligent; careless; remiss.

Vocabulary.com---Make less active or fast; become less in amount or intensity; lacking in rigor or strictness; deterioration in performance or quality.

Slackpackers may want to pick a better word to describe their style of travel. Speaking of which, who gave them this derogatory name anyway??

[Daybreak]

The ATC that officially recognized Earl's hike continues to do so today. According to the ATC if you complete the trail in a year whether day hiking, slacking, flip-flopping ... you are a thru hiker. If you hike the whole trail in any manner you qualify as a 2000 miler. These are facts. You can discuss/argue what is more traditional, harder.... But when you quote the ATC for one hiker you have to do so for all. This definition has existed and been on the honor system for more than 20 years maybe more.

[Daybreak]

The ATC that officially recognized Earl's hike continues to do so today. According to the ATC if you complete the trail in a year whether day hiking, slacking, flip-flopping ... you are a thru hiker. If you hike the whole trail in any manner you qualify as a 2000 miler. These are facts. You can discuss/argue what is more traditional, harder.... But when you quote the ATC for one hiker you have to do so for all. This definition has existed and been on the honor system for more than 20 years.

[Tipi Walter]

The ATC that officially recognized Earl's hike continues to do so today. According to the ATC if you complete the trail in a year whether day hiking, slacking, flip-flopping ... you are a thru hiker. If you hike the whole trail in any manner you qualify as a 2000 miler. These are facts. You can discuss/argue what is more traditional, harder.... But when you quote the ATC for one hiker you have to do so for all. This definition has existed and been on the honor system for more than 20 years maybe more.

I just wonder if the ATC gave more scrutiny to Shaffer in 1948 than they do now for Average Joe in 2021?? Probably since he was the first.

[CalebJ]

I just wonder why you're living your life judging whether other people's approach is good enough to satisfy you. And what kind of pathetic madness leads one to have an attitude like that.

Unbelievable.

[cmoulder]

I just wonder why you're living your life judging whether other people's approach is good enough to satisfy you. And what kind of pathetic madness leads one to have an attitude like that.

Unbelievable.

There's never a psychologist around when you really need one.

[Slo-go'en]

"Back in the day" (1987/88) there weren't many hostels and the majority of them were affiliated with churches.

When private hostels started popping up, the concept of slack packing was invented. That's why there wasn't any reference to slack packing until relatively recently.

[Daybreak]

I just wonder if the ATC gave more scrutiny to Shaffer in 1948 than they do now for Average Joe in 2021?? Probably since he was the first.

Absolutely. The ATC gives little or no scrutiny to the the average Joe. They don't want to be judge. The same is true elsewhere in the world. Remember the ATC recognized some scouts as completing the trail earlier. This topic is more appropriate for other forum spots.

According to Earl, the trail was harder during his last thru hike with fewer roads, more miles and fewer trailside resupplies but paraphrasing the shelters were too soft with those nice flat boards. All hikes are not equal. Yea I fully believe backpacking the AT is better. Hell, I carried binoculars and a bird book during the spring. I don't care who else did but didn't carry a paddle and I didn't go barefoot.