I Meet The King of "Slackpackers"

   I remember arriving at Waynesboro, Virginia back in 1980. It is a town near the trail just before the start of the Shenandoah National Park. From the trail registers I learned that the local fire department allowed hikers to camp in the yard at the fire station (and also use the showers). I don't know if they do that now, but back then they did. When I arrived at the fire station there were lots of hikers staying over. Jane was there (I had seen a lot of her for several weeks). "Baha" from Athens Georgia was there. But the most notable figure was "O.D. Coyote".
   "O.D. Coyote" was a legend on the Appalachian Trail in 1980. A few years earlier he had hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail (California, Oregon, Washington State). I think it runs from the Mexican border to the Canadian border -- over 2,600 miles. In 1980 "O.D." decided to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, but he wasn't in a hurry. He was the first thru-hiker to start in Georgia (in early February). He wrote in every trail register, encouraging everyone to slow down and enjoy the trip. "O.D." was the king of "slackpacking". If he hiked over 10 miles in one day then he would have to take off a day or two just to recover. He often did 5 or 6 miles in a day. To put things into perspective, I hiked the entire trail in just under 5 months. "O.D" had hiked less than half of the trail in about 4 months! That's why they called him a "slackpacker".
   The "King of Slackpackers" was quite a sight! He had a beard (most thru-hikers did), and his clothes were worn. His backpack had a special strap on it that fit on his head. Some of the native american indians used this type of pack to carry loads, but I had never seen it on the Appalachian Trail. I sat with other curious hikers and listened to the stories that "O.D." told. He was a unique guy. I later found out that he finished his thru-hike in November after about 9 months on the trail. Now THAT is "slackpacking"!
   Here in 2011 I made up for a week of being slack on my diet. This morning I weighed in at 178.0 pounds! That is a total of 8.8 pounds lost in just over 8 weeks. Now I have to work to keep the weight off and continue to lose those pounds! "O.D." would tell me to slow down, but I'm not going to get slack on this project!