Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Slackpacking Defined

A sidebar to a Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune 26 March 2007 article by Barbara Baird, titled "Bank on the right backpack; A good fit could make difference on certain hikes," gives us a definition of 'slackpacking' that includes mention of the Appalachian Trail:

"Slackpacking is a colloquialism in the hiking world, a verb that means a hiker prefers shorter daytrip hikes off the beaten trail if possible. Slackpackers shun packs and spend their nights on their own pillows atop mattresses at home or in the comfort of hotels. Many slackpackers have hiked the entire 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail without spending a single night around a campfire. Slackpackers keep personal trail maps and mark off which section they have hiked, putting it all together when finished to form a complete hike from start to finish."

There you go. Not exactly the way I would have defined it, though. Slacking the entire AT? Can't quite picture that.

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