[pct-l] O.d. Coyote

[Roger Carpenter]

I'm finally catching up on the posts from the last couple of weeks.  It's a
shame that O.d. left the list, and it's a shame the action between him and
the list got to be too negative.  For those of you who have met O.d. and
(hopefully) seen one of his slide shows you will remember him as a very
colorful person yet very opinionated.  In the early days of ALDHA-West in
the mid-90's when Jardine ran it Jardine banned O.d. from attending the
gatherings simply because O.d. did not agree with Jardine's philosophies of
long distance hiking.   O.d. stayed in touch with ALDHA-West by re-joining
under the name name ":Dutch Chocolate"!  After Jardine abandoned ALDHA-West
O.d. eventually knew it was safe to come back to the gathering and he gave
an amazingly entertaining slide show one year.  His photos would include
things like bugs he watched while hiking the AT, and perhaps he spent much
more time observing things like bugs and less time trying to make his miles
for that day.  He would also show up with a printed manifesto called
something like the "Slackpacking Journals" which I have kept in my personal
library of long distance hiking materials.  One thing is for sure, O.d. was,
and still is, very passionate about what he does when he goes on a hike.
Nobody personifies the expression, "hike your own hike" more than O.d.
Coyote.

My point?  Appreciate the positive things someone like O.d. brings to the
community and try to understand that his opinions are based on a passionate
sense of his beliefs and approach to long distance hiking and not some
attempt to prove that his way is superior than anyone else's.  I have met
one other person in the distance hiking community who was equally as
opinionated (not someone who posts to this list) as O.d., but that other
person was really dangerous, verbally abusive and had issues that I would
rather not get into.  To me O.d. is a refreshing voice who could be
misunderstood, but means no harm.  After reading his posts I could see why
someone would construe his words as flames, but in this case I would let
O.d. be O.d., and just appreciate the guy for who he is.
Roger Carpenter
Vancouver, Washington
www.elkpass.com

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