If I recall correctly it was at Lehigh Gap, I stayed in the basement of a jail that allowed AT thru hikers to sleep in bunks. Here I met some hikers that had an extra copy of AWOL’s Hiking Guide which is supposedly the hikers guide of choice for any section of the AT. Up to this point, over halfway through the trail, I had been winging it and it was working out just fine. I did, however, use the book for the rest of the hike, since I had it. It was weird because from that point on I was kind of doing everything that the rest of the thru hikers were doing. We all had the same guide suggesting the same stuff. I was officially now part of the guide tribe, doing what was suggested by those who hiked before me.
The hikers I met in the basement said they had met a couple who were going to section hike and were willing to shuttle their backpacks so they could slackpack. Slackpacking as you probably figured out from the statement above is when one hikes a section of trail without their backpack. My guide tribe offered to let me in on this amazing phenomenon! So, of course, I handed everything over that I needed at the time to survive and complete this thru hike, except a bottle of water, iodine tablets, a rain jacket and the clothing on my back to people I just became acquainted with to pass on to people who they in turn had just met to leave at some unknown location for me the next day.
The next morning relieved of the burden of my pack and the unknown thanks to my new friends, but now saddled with the burden of having to rely on strangers, I head north with my new group. Slackpacking was amazing! I found it relaxing and rejuvenating after spending months carrying my backpack. We knocked out a lot of miles and ended the day still feeling refreshed. After picking up our packs from the side of the trail we moved on to the next shelter!
Soon we were through the state of Pennsylvania and into New Jersey where the trail came too close to another state high point. I took a quick side hike to bag this peak. Maybe I will get to the top of all the state high points at some point, I think to myself. This hasn’t been an active goal, but I have managed to get to the top of a quarter of the 50 state high points. Damn, I am probably going to get sidetracked again before I hike the CDT.
Adventures Of The Average Joe 