View Full Version : Serious Slackpacking
Trail Pooh
04-15-2008, 17:19
Does anyone know of services that could slack pack a whole thru-hike?
orangebug
04-15-2008, 17:42
There's been a few to attempt it (Pittsburg tried for awhile) but I don't think anyone is providing that service currently. The logistics would be a mess.
saimyoji
04-15-2008, 17:45
Does anyone know of services that could slack pack a whole thru-hike?
PM Warren Doyle.
Unless you are unable to carry what you need because of some sort of disability, it might not be as much an issue as you believe.
If you have enough money, you could likely find someone who wants to provide support for a 2175-mile hike. Alternatively, you might find someone who'd provide support were you to offer the same in return. WhiteBlaze.net might be the place you'd locate such a person.
warren doyle
04-15-2008, 18:33
Find out more info on the 2010 AT Circle Expedition on the website below.
Our first prep session is before Trail Days (May 13-16).
Have about twenty hopefuls coming down.
PM Warren Doyle.
Ditto.
Not being facetious. Just the truth. Gotta wait till 2010 though. It is actually a pretty good deal.
If...
If that is your thing, (and you don't drink or smoke, want to stick to a prescribed daily routine, etc...) go for it. Just don't steal from service providers and do clean up after yourself. Don't let your "schedule" decide whether or not you act like an inconsiderate slob. If it does, something is wrong with your "schedule" or "routine."
f I were a feeble old curmudgeon, I'd do it too! :)
Lone Wolf
04-15-2008, 23:30
Does anyone know of services that could slack pack a whole thru-hike?
me. 15 large
The Band-aid Kid
04-15-2008, 23:55
Plodder and Barking Spider did it in 2007, in style, at times with help from at least one wife. It worked well for them. It just took me a while to figure out how they kept passing me going the other way! So, I was a little slow, both on the uptake and on the trail!
Jack Tarlin
04-16-2008, 00:03
Trail Pooh:
Excuse me for asking, but you're 24. Other than serious health issues that would preclude one from being an independent, self-supporting, non automotive-supported hiker, why would anyone WANT to do the A.T. in this fashion?
Red Truck and Green Truck did it a few years ago. Father and son, self shuttling with a pair of pickup trucks. Red Truck had a red pickup; I forget what color truck Green Truck had.
saimyoji
04-16-2008, 08:44
Red Truck and Green Truck did it a few years ago. Father and son, self shuttling with a pair of pickup trucks. Red Truck had a red pickup; I forget what color truck Green Truck had.
I believe it was yellow.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
04-16-2008, 08:56
The Dinos will be slack-packing much of the trail due to she-dino having muscles paralyzed in one leg after a 2004 auto accident (makes it darn hard to hike, much less backpack).
We plan to do one of the following:
buy a motorhome and tow a small shuttling vehicle (self-shuttle)
buy a camper, scooter and vehicle capable of towing camper / scooter (self-shuttle)
buy a motorhome and get shuttled by a retired relative in that
In 1999, Junker offerred such a service to a group of 6 hikers for $7,000 a piece. Of course, gas was $.86 a gallon in my home town in March of that year, compared to $3.29 a gallon now, so by way of comparison, Wolf's offer seems pretty generous.
BTW, all of Junker's clients had quit the trail by Pearisburg, Virginia. However, he maintained a marginal business pretty considerably farther north from other traditional thru-hikers who decided they wanted a "slackpack vacation" for a couple of weeks at a time.
I dropped some cash in a donation box a number of times when I ran into him at trailheads or in town in exchange for a shuttle to or around town. He never asked for such money. But considering he was out there for business purposes, it definitely seemed the right thing to do.
I do recall he said he wouldn't do it again. Pretty tiring driving all around then sitting and waiting.
warren doyle
04-16-2008, 12:18
100% completion rates for all those AT circle expedition members who made the commitment to the expedition's mission and expectations in six of the seven groups I have organized to walk the entire trail.
A commercial, van supported thru-hike of the entire AT probably will never happen because of the word 'commercial'.
Blissful
04-16-2008, 13:14
Nowadays the gas alone would make it very difficult. Would be a very expensive way to thru-hike.
atraildreamer
04-16-2008, 13:19
Maybe you could hire one of these guys. I don't think that the term ultra-lite is found in their dictionary!:banana
NICKTHEGREEK
04-16-2008, 18:50
The Dinos will be slack-packing much of the trail due to she-dino having muscles paralyzed in one leg after a 2004 auto accident (makes it darn hard to hike, much less backpack).
We plan to do one of the following:
buy a motorhome and tow a small shuttling vehicle (self-shuttle)
buy a camper, scooter and vehicle capable of towing camper / scooter (self-shuttle)
buy a motorhome and get shuttled by a retired relative in that
So how are you able to walk at all with such a condition?
NICKTHEGREEK
04-16-2008, 19:02
In 1999, Junker offerred such a service to a group of 6 hikers for $7,000 a piece. Of course, gas was $.86 a gallon in my home town in March of that year, compared to $3.29 a gallon now, so by way of comparison, Wolf's offer seems pretty generous.
BTW, all of Junker's clients had quit the trail by Pearisburg, Virginia. However, he maintained a marginal business pretty considerably farther north from other traditional thru-hikers who decided they wanted a "slackpack vacation" for a couple of weeks at a time.
I dropped some cash in a donation box a number of times when I ran into him at trailheads or in town in exchange for a shuttle to or around town. He never asked for such money. But considering he was out there for business purposes, it definitely seemed the right thing to do.
I do recall he said he wouldn't do it again. Pretty tiring driving all around then sitting and waiting.
$42K tax free for less than 6 months work isn't bad. Even if you drive 10,000 miles at 10 mpg and 4.00 a gallon gas it adds up to only $4K. I'd be willing to bet that would be a pretty substantial financial bump up for more than 1 or 2 hikers at this site. Definately pay for a half year hiking in Patagonia
Does anyone know of services that could slack pack a whole thru-hike?
Unless you have a medical condition that prohibits you from carrying loads, then just man up and hike. Pleasure-slackpacking is lame.
In 1999, Junker offerred such a service to a group of 6 hikers for $7,000 a piece. Of course, gas was $.86 a gallon in my home town in March of that year, compared to $3.29 a gallon now, so by way of comparison, Wolf's offer seems pretty generous.
BTW, all of Junker's clients had quit the trail by Pearisburg, Virginia. However, he maintained a marginal business pretty considerably farther north from other traditional thru-hikers who decided they wanted a "slackpack vacation" for a couple of weeks at a time.
I dropped some cash in a donation box a number of times when I ran into him at trailheads or in town in exchange for a shuttle to or around town. He never asked for such money. But considering he was out there for business purposes, it definitely seemed the right thing to do.
I do recall he said he wouldn't do it again. Pretty tiring driving all around then sitting and waiting.
I remember Junker!! Ran into him a few times too!!
Unless you have a medical condition that prohibits you from carrying loads, then just man up and hike. Pleasure-slackpacking is lame.Not understanding that not everyone has the same goals, desires, pleasures, and wants as you do is lame. (I wondered how long it would be before someone started judging the way people enjoy themsleves hiking and (of course) implied their way was the "good" way.)
Hiking is good and it is fun. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going for a day hike in the woods. To tell someone that it is lame to go for a hike every day for five months is ... well, I guess I don't have words. I just don't some people's thought processes.
Hike and let hike.
Not understanding that not everyone has the same goals, desires, pleasures, and wants as you do is lame. (I wondered how long it would be before someone started judging the way people enjoy themsleves hiking and (of course) implied their way was the "good" way.)
Hiking is good and it is fun. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going for a day hike in the woods. To tell someone that it is lame to go for a hike every day for five months is ... well, I guess I don't have words. I just don't some people's thought processes.
Hike and let hike.
Point taken. I don't think I meant it as gravely as you read it.
Point taken. I don't think I meant it as gravely as you read it.Probably not. I am severely humor challenged today. Sorry.
I am doing the AT southbound in sections trying to hike the AT as much as possible as a long series of dayhikes. This year I continue to Glencliff, NH and I started at Katahdin. I have not done the section from Abol Bridge to JoMary Road which you can stay at Nahmakanta Camp and Whitehouse Landing and with car shuttling or staying in huts or lodges I feel I can make it well into Virginia without an overnight. (Didn't study Virginia south to figure out what I will need to do down there. The Smokies I know I will have to backpack if I ever get that far.) I did backpack for two days/one night from KI Road to North Lake with one night out at Cloud Pond Lean-to at the southern end of the Hundred Mile Wilderness. Yes I backpacked and stayed in huts in the Whites, but that I consider quasi-back-packing (if that is a word). If you study maps and with some willingness to drive on some pretty rugged roads you can make it thru New England with only one night in a shelter. You also have to be willing to do some 20 mile hikes. See my series of trip reports in my sub-forum here (http://http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=401) on whiteblaze!!! I supply alot of details on how to accomplish Maine & NH. So hopefully, this will help.