Baltimore Jack Passes Away

[Tinker]

I heard about this a couple of weeks ago from thruhiker Freebyrd (2015) a friend of mine that I dropped off (and hiked with) in Georgia last March. I met Jack a few times while he worked near the Trail (last March, in fact at Mountain Crossings, where he sold me some socks :-). He was one of the few people I met on the trail who was farther right than I (though his reasons were different than my religious ones), and he was pretty inflexible (I tend to be more open minded, though some closed minded folks might disagree ;-). Now that he is gone, I would like to point out that my song "The Ballad of Tinker" was actually based loosely on what I learned from him, and heard from some of his close friends, about his life. His fondness for the bottle is legendary, but I had the sense that he struggled daily to find a place of importance, worth, and true love on this Earth, and did, in part, in the AT community, most of whom could see through his gruff exterior to the lonely soul within. I wished that I could have reached out with the love that God had placed in my heart, but I was not in a good place, spiritually, to do that, so I would thank Jack for his company, cooking skills, and contribution to the Trail community (though he depended more on it than it did on him). With that, I would like to bid Godspeed to the spirit of "Baltimore" Jack Tarlin, and thanks, for everything.

[greentick]

Rest in Peace Jack.

[greentick]

He made a good impression on my buddy Hank and his son. Scroll down to "day 3" of this WB article.

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/content....-Kid-to-the-AT

[lemon b]

Was just thinking how easily he would have solved two recent discussions we've had on this forum. The one one Trail Days and local LE officers. And the one on Begging on the trail.

[mweinstone]

Hiker walks into the doyel....
Drinkin?
Yesum
Do u make baltimore jacks here?
Yes we do and id be glad to serve you one if you have id and if i had all of the ingredients.
Unfourtunatly those hikers that just left drank the last jacks and im out of most of the ingredients untill pat my husband comes back from the store.
If your desprate i can make you one without the trimmings but it would really just be a glass of beam.
Oh no thnk you mamm. Ill definatly wait. I want the whole exsperience with the aujor sauce and the sprig of mint and the capers and chease. My friends told me its a pritty good drink.
Well, its popular i can tell you that. Since last week we've gone thru a heck of alot of m&m's just makein bjacks. So you know thats alot of drinks.
The hikers have been asking for us to add things to the recipie but we stick to the original and use real meatloaf juice in ours.

[mweinstone]

Matthewski standing just out of site overhears the hikers adorations of jack....
He pulls his mapdanna from his pocket, the same mapdanna jack once lifted a cornner of and wiped my face of his intangebly cooked offerings with his gentle hand....
Sobbing nearly scilently...
Blows hard....

From the baroom....
Who farted?

[mweinstone]

A secondary wave of grieving in the backwash of traildays has left some of the friends of jack , sinking in turbulent oceans of emotion.
Miss janet texted just to say she loves me and a few hours later, katie her daughter did the same thing.
She said her and her mom must be in touch on another level.
I felt it before either of them texted.
The whole inner family of jacks hiker friends will feel this awhile.

[NickBrit]

Been looking thru WB on and off over the last 5 years or so, but never felt the need to post a comment until I saw this very sad news a few days ago. I was lucky enough to meet Baltimore Jack several times during the 2012 season when I was just a tragic Limey AT virgin. I'd forgotten there was no water source at the top of Blood Mtn, was down to my last couple of sips and then managed to somehow wander off the Trail and get lost :-( by the time I'd bushwhacked back to the trail and had lurched down to Neel's Gap it was past dusk and I was in a real mess. The store was closed but Jack appeared from somewhere, scooped me up into a sitting position and worked his magic ...

"Water.... cola.... whiskey.... water..." ;-)
It worked well!! I seem to remember we spent the rest of the evening re-interpreting Monty Python sketches (with Winston Churchill thrown in for good measure) - pretty entertaining! Several times over the next few months we'd bump into each other randomly - once heard him shouting my name behind me at a Walmart in TN, turned round and there he was, all grins and shades. Another time I was still lurking in Damascus several days after Trail Days had moved out and it was all quiet again. I was dreading heading back out into that crazy heat and there he was. So I turned my final zero day into a zero-and-a-half day by getting him breakfast in a diner. He took my trail guide from me and spent 15 mins annotating the pages covering the following 60+ miles with his notes on blue blazes worth checking out, best spots to camp, etc... stuff I would have just walked straight past otherwise - and they were all spot-on.
After years of getting more and more cynical of life in general whilst working in London and Berlin, it was a real eye-opener to meet someone as genuinely thoughtful, helpful and knowledgeable as Baltimore Jack. I think I got more useful practical tips out of him in one 20-min conversation than from about four months of 'research' whilst sitting in an office in Germany! Can totally see why he was so admired and a proper Trail legend. What a guy. I just took a little break from my current self-enforced 'no drinking' status and raised a few glasses of the good stuff to him.
Who knows, maybe he's somewhere up there right now giving pack tips to Bowie, Lemmy, et al, then raising his hands and saying "But hey! It's YOUR hike!"

My sincere condolences to his family and close friends.

RIP Jack Tarlin. You won't be forgotten by AT hikers anytime soon......

[-Rush-]

He took my trail guide from me and spent 15 mins annotating the pages covering the following 60+ miles with his notes on blue blazes worth checking out, best spots to camp, etc... stuff I would have just walked straight past otherwise - and they were all spot-on.

Any chance you still have that guidebook? Scans?!

[Ron Haven]

As we have said, We are changing the Hikers Den Hostel in Franklin To The Baltimore Jack Tarlin Hiker Hostel We are donating a wall in his remembrance . We have had a few donations to add to it but if you have something to add we would be honored to add it on Jacks behalf. We will also be adding photos of Otto and Mala. Suggestion will also be considered.

[Patrickjd9]

Nick, was your trailname "Smiies"?

[-Rush-]

I'm sure some of you have seen this Bill Bryson bobblehead, and of course I'd never buy this (lol), but if they had one for Baltimore Jack I'd have to get one. It could come with a few different shirts and accessories.

Attachment 34954


http://appalachian-trail-conservancy...bblehead-doll/

[mweinstone]

Jack said one thing more than others.....
" matty?, have you eaten?".
...in his polite and kind voice.
He was known for makeing wonderful meals from mere quarks and half lived radon daughters of leftovers.
with naught but the faintest of red shift he sauced us.
His speed at prepareing a lifesaveing meal to a famished hiker in real caloric distress was standard by time distort 12.
His condiment packet collection was as vairied as the aliens of all the worlds.
From the deep recesses of his voluminus pack he could produce life saving calorie heat units in a jam with a cheese pack, mint floss and gum.
The man cooked.
The legond taught.
The heart lives.
Thank you jack

[mweinstone]

In 96, my girlfriend shira died. I cryed 3 years each day. One day, my hippy housemates who were organic chemists told me i should take some of the goop in the fridge that they had made from herbs for my sadness. I laughfed.
Then one day alone in the old squat of a victirian house in west philly i went to the fridge and took a gulp from the mason jar of kalva kalva and st johns wort and valarien and all manner of weird stuff likeshazandra berries.
I felt super duper good. For 3 years i was addicted to whatever that goo was.
Then one day i stopped crying and stopped takeing the herbs.
Jacks death is the only one like hers. It will be a mont on the fourth. Id like to have a dry day and im thankfull im sober.

[Panzer1]

RIP Jack
we will all miss you.

[Ron Haven]

It hardly seems like it but he has been gone almost a month..

[solace]

For Memorial Day, we also are thinking of Dear Baltimore Jack, in addition to our beloved Men & Women who gave everything to our country. We are playing Bruce Springsteen & will have a toast of Bourbon... How fast a month goes.. remembering Jack each day helps to ease that pain for each of us hopefully ~

[mweinstone]

Panzer, your blessed u met him. We miss you on the trail. Come to the doyel next weekend?

[Ron Haven]

In the final stages of changing the name to our hostel in Jack Tarlin's honor, here is the looks of the site Baltimore Jacks Place or http://baltimorejacksplace.com

[solace]

This looks GREAT Ronnie!! JACK would be happy & proud, and I'm sure have a funny comment about what else was needed! WELL DONE MY FRIEND!