Date: 2012-09-09
From: ME 15

To: Long Pond Stream lean-to
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I walked back down to the ball field this morning for the hiker feed breakfast. Best biscuits and gravy ever! They also served blueberry pancakes, OJ, scrambled eggs, and hamburger. Troll and Patty shuttled us back to the trail afterwards. Spirit, Y's Guy, The Honeymooners, Turtle, Socks, and I started the 100 mile wilderness together. We forded several rivers today including Little Wilson, Big Wilson, and Wilber Brook. My feet were soaked : DI met a modest south bound hiker named Brian at the lean-to. I noticed he was carrying a tiny ultralight pack. Even though he's only just starting this thru-hike, he obviously knows what he's doing. As it turns out he has over 14,000 trail miles. He's trying to beat his personal best of 76 days to hike the entire A.T. Brian's base weight for this years hike is 6 pounds! Pretty neat."Manboy" and "Testament" showed up at the shelter as it was getting dark. The others hikers must have set up camp before the shelter.A reader asked me what slack packing was and if a thru-hiker can also be a slack packer.Slack packing means that you hike a section (usually between road crossings) without the weight and bulk of your overnight gear. Since you're only carrying snacks, water, and maybe a rain jacket the pack looks "slack". It's most convenient to slack pack between roads that go into the same town. You usually leave your extra gear at a hostel that you're coming back to for the night. Shuttling allows you to slack pack sections that aren't that easy to get to. With a GPS and support vehicle capable of getting down two tracks, you can slack pack the whole A.T. Although the slacker has to be able to hike as much as 25-30 miles in order to get through to the next good road in some spots. Jennifer Davis set the record for thru-hiking all 2,184 miles in 46.5 days last year with a support vehicle. She averaged almost 50 miles a day with no days off. But, she didn't have to stop and buy food or set up camp. She carried what she needed for the day and nothing else. All she did for a month and a half was eat, sleep, and hike!The definition of a thru-hiker is someone who passes every blaze in a calendar year. In other words, as long as you walk the whole trail in one year you are a thru-hiker. A section hiker is someone who hikes the whole trail in multiple years. Section hikers are still recognized by the ATC and get their 2,000 miler patch when they finnish.So yes, a slack packer can also be a thru-hiker. There is no rule about how much weight you have to carry in order to be a proper thru-hiker. Trying to make a rule like that is a slippery slope. Some of the heavier backpacks can weigh 6-7 pounds empty. An experienced backpacker like Brian carries an entire kit that weighs that much. That's why I made a big deal about this in a previous post. Anyone can carry 40+ pounds of store bought equipment out into the woods. I don't think that makes you a better backpacker. I think the guys that have enough experience and creativity to carry 5-6 pounds in woods are doing it better. I wouldn't suggest everyone starting out that way though....going that light cuts down on your margin for error. People die of exposure while out in the woods all the time. You have to know your limits.