Date: 2014-05-20
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Reagan National Airport
Miles today: 0.0

Sitting in Reagan National waiting for my son-in-law's plane. It's strange, being back in the hustle of the world. My pack is beside me, holding everything I need for life on the AT. It seems small in this place. But my hiking clothes are clean. Maybe I should consider getting some deodorant. I've been thinking about slack packing. Not for me, just the idea in general. I'm staying with my original plan to start at Springer Mountain in Georgia and carry my pack north to Mt Katahdin in Maine. No slack packing for me. No change of direction to make a certain section easier. But slack packing has become an acceptable thru hiking technique. Hike your own hike, HYOH. What another hiker does is their own business. But we all notice how it's human nature to find an easier way. Slack packing is aided by shuttle drivers, often associated with hostels. It's another source of revenue for the support businesses along the trail. An example might be that you're 20 miles from a hostel. Contact them and they come and pick you up for a night at the hostel, with showers, laundry, town food, and a real bed. In the morning the shuttle drops you off back where you left the trail and you hike in to the hostel with a day pack carrying water and snacks and maybe rain gear. Then another night in a real bed. Next day you're shuttled 20 miles beyond the hostel. You again day pack, back to the hostel. Usually down hill instead of hiking out of town with heavy resupply up the hill. And a third night of town food and a good bed. The next day you're shuttled back with your pack, heading up the trail, until the next opportunity to slack pack. There's variations but this is the general idea. I know hikers who slack pack every chance they get. Yes, I imagine it gets expensive but to some it's worth the cost. Got a difficult section coming up going NOBO? Slack pack it the easier direction SOBO. Some hikers view slack packing as being dishonest. But it's become quite acceptable. All the white blazes are still passed on foot. People have to make their own call. My expectation for myself is that I carry my full pack, always NOBO. That doesn't make me right or wrong. HYOH. It's how I view a thru hike, for me. At the end of the day 2185 miles is a heck of a long walk for anyone, slack packed or fully loaded. Does that mean we don't sit around the shelter picnic table talking trash about notorious slack packers? Of course we do! I just humped a pack heavy with resupply 2000 feet up the mountain, leaving town. Slack packers with day packs passed me going down hill and then shuttled ahead. It's too tempting a target not to talk a little trash. But no one gets upset. The "hike your own hike" mantra is well established in the hiker community. And that's a fine thing. Besides, I'm betting that some hikers have physical issues that slack packing is the only way they can make the entire trail. Meanwhile, back to sitting here in the airport. Thinking about all the times I bustled through these terminals, mind full of work obligations and schedules. The trail has soaked into my being. I feel shifted, a dimension aside. Maybe a bit like a ghost in the machine. Could it be that I'm resetting?